Lacuna: The Ashes of Humanity

by Adams, David

  ["No, I speak from experience. The time after Evarel, our homeworld, was consumed... dark times fell upon us. It was called The Great Decline. Our numbers dwindled. Our race teetered on the edge of extinction. We almost perished."]

  "And these are dark times for us, but we will endure."

  ["How?"] It was a simple question.

  "I don't know," Liao said, meaning every word. "How did the Toralii survive?"

  Saara's eyes conveyed a profound sadness. ["We did… regrettable things. Commander, do you believe that in order for your species to survive, any measures should be taken to ensure the genetic preservation of your kind?"]

  "I admit these are desperate times. We have a saying: 'Desperate times call for desperate measures.'"

  ["Agreed. Would you consent to bearing four more children, each with a different father to maximise genetic diversity?"]

  She bristled instinctively at the idea. "No, but—"

  ["With the numbers you have, in order to prevent inbreeding, you will be forced to do this. An appreciable portion of your survivors of reproductive age is military personnel, and your military is approximately three-quarters male. This is an unfortunate ratio. Women with reproductive function are extremely valuable."]

  "It won't come to that."

  ["And so we told ourselves, once, too."]

  "If that's what it takes," said Liao, a bitter taste in her mouth, "I'll do it. I'll talk to James, though, first… and we'll look into our options… but we have to survive."

  The irony of her words, spoken with her handgun resting just beside her hand, hidden beneath a stack of paper, was not lost on her.

  ["And what if your soldiers do not make the same choice? Will you compel them to?"]

  Liao gritted her teeth. "I'll not allow the female soldiers under my command to be raped."

  ["I commend your dedication, Commander Liao, and I expected as much from you. I am glad you would stick to your principles instead of taking the unpalatable but pragmatic approach."] Saara swayed her tail. ["At least, for now."]

  "If you think a little hardship will cause me to change that policy, you are sadly mistaken." She squared her shoulders. "Here's what I believe, down to my bones: existence is not enough. Mere survival is unacceptable. What we are as Human beings is more than genetic code, more than chemicals. We have a culture, a system of ethics that we adhere to. This is as much us as our DNA. If we kill that part of us, we lose something more than our biological distinctiveness. We lose our souls."

  Saara's ears pinned back against her head, and she cast her eyes downward. ["I cannot disagree on any specific point. I know this is a painful crossroads for your species, and this is but the first of many hard decisions you will have to make in the coming years. I hope your ability to hold to your values translates into material successes."]

  "What did your people choose?" Liao bit her lip. "When Evarel was destroyed, how did the Toralii survive?"

  Saara did not immediately answer. When she did, her tone was distant and bitter. ["I am here, am I not? We did what we had to. Our females did as the elders commanded, and those who did not had their choices made for them. We grew, we healed, and we recovered."]

  National education in China told every student of the Japanese "comfort women", taken from territories occupied by Imperial Japan during the Second World War and used as sex slaves. History reviled the men who did this. Would this be Liao's legacy too? A failed captain and a rapist by proxy?

  Large swathes of China and the surrounding countries could trace their lineage back to one man: Genghis Khan. Human history had not been kind to females. Neither had, it seemed, Toralii history. They had more in common than they thought.

  "But things are better now, aren't they? There are females in the Toralii armed forces, as there are in ours. I assume that once numbers stabilised—"

  ["Do the wounds of abuse fade so quickly? The Toralii have not forgotten these dark times. Of the hospitals. The registers."] Saara shrugged, a gesture she had adopted from her Human hosts, and one Liao had seen more and more frequently the more time Saara spent with them. ["Yet, had we not, none would be alive to remember them."]

  "I know." Liao inhaled. "Look. I don't think we're that far gone, but you're certainly saying what everyone's thinking. We need to get out there and have our two point five kids. We need to start looking at a permanent settlement—be that here or somewhere else. We're going to need some kind of way of getting our numbers up before age and misadventure take their toll. I'll seek volunteers, and if I have to, I'll do it myself—our IVF treatment is advanced. There'll be no actual sex involved, it's more of a surrogacy… but mark my words in this, I swear with everything I have, nobody will be compelled to do anything against their wishes."

  ["I am pleased to hear this. I wish you the best of luck with your endeavours."]

  The words helped. "Thank you," she said, and then Saara—hesitating slightly, as though unsure her work was done—closed the door.

  CHAPTER VIII

  Si Vis Pacem…

  *****

  LIAO ORIGINALLY INTENDED TO EAT, rest, and enjoy one of the few non-horrible days she'd had since arriving on Eden, but something drew her out to the hangar bay, to the night sky stretching out above them. The insects were out, of course, but a stiff breeze kept them largely at bay, and the atmosphere was otherwise fresh and clean. Refreshing to breathe real air after the stale, artificial atmosphere found deep in the Beijing's heart.

  "Wonderful night," said Shepherd.

  "Quite." She smiled his way then looked back up. She studied the stars, what glimpses she could find through the cloud cover. "Say what you like about this planet, but its nights are beautiful."

  "Rural Texas was beautiful, too. My father used to take me to Purtis Creek State Park when he was on leave from Fort Worth." Alistair's voice carried a genuine sadness but a joy, too, as he spoke. "We had this big, old telescope, an ancient thing really, and he would set it up on nights just like this, when the sky was filled with stars and everything was all quiet and dark. He taught me about the constellations, the movements of the heavens, everything. Even after I was done with school, even after I had kids of my own, we still did it. Every year until he died. So I started to take my son."

  That was nice. "Well, now we have a whole new set of constellations to learn. But I tell you what; you should check the Beijing's computers. See if you can record as much of that knowledge for the future. We'll need it."

  "Surely your ship has all the information about the stars that anyone could ever ask for."

  Seeing something on the ship's computers was different than seeing it for herself. "You might be surprised what the holes in our knowledge are. Even if what you contribute isn't scientifically accurate, it's folklore. That's more valuable. We can trade with the Iilan for technology, but culture is the soul of our society. Without it, we're nothing."

  "A fine sentiment."

  Liao folded her hands in front of her. "So, how's the civilian population holding up?"

  "Well enough," said Shepherd. "Things aren't easy, but we're Americans. For all our faults, and there are many, we come together as a community in a crisis. That's what makes us strong."

  "I apologise for the earlier incident," Liao said. "Fear can drive people to do strange things."

  "Had the circumstances been reversed, I have no doubt the same events would have played themselves out, with the Americans petitioning to divide the ship and an American captain also standing her ground, telling the two factions that they must remain united. Human beings are not so different the world over, Captain. For better or for worse."

  "I agree, and it's something we should keep in mind. We have Iranians from the Tehran, Brazilians from the Madrid, Americans from the Beijing, and Chinese from the Washington… and a scattering of other nationalities reflected in the military forces dedicated to Belthas IV. And we all have to share the same resources. We've gone from hundreds of nationalities to a dozen, and that's going to t
ake some adjustment. We might have seen the first time we try to segment ourselves again based on national lines, but we haven't seen the last."

  "Agreed."

  Silence pervaded for a moment.

  "So," said Shepherd, mirroring her earlier tone, "how goes the war?"

  She didn't know how to answer that. "Poorly. But Rowe has a little thing she's working on. I don't know how we're going to use it, but it certainly seems interesting."

  "Let me guess," said Shepherd. "You'd love to tell me, but it's classified?"

  "Actually, I'm not sure I see the logic in keeping this secret, especially not from you. We have a weapon we can't find a use for. It's called Lucifer's Gas."

  Alistair shook his head disapprovingly. "Sounds ominous. We shouldn't use the name of the devil to aid us."

  "It's fiendish stuff, from what my engineers tell me. It truly deserves the title. Honestly, a part of me just wants to dump it in the sea and forget about it, but it could be useful."

  "Why don't you rename it?" asked Shepherd. "It might help inspire you if you think about it in a different light."

  "Freedom Gas?" Liao grinned.

  "Something like that."

  "I don't know. I think it's just so awful that it should remain Lucifer's Gas. When the Toralii attacked us, some people considered them to be demons. Divine beings come to smite us for all our wrongdoings. Well, Sun Tzu said, 'To know your enemy you must become your enemy.'" Liao affixed a stare on Shepherd, one she hoped would communicate her meaning. "I want the Toralii to think that we are the demons."

  Shepherd looked back up to the sky. "I was hoping we could prepare for peace, instead of more war. War hasn't brought us much luck so far."

  Liao followed Shepherd's gaze upwards.

  "Not so far."

  Liao and Shepherd talked for a time about various petty things regarding the organisation of the civilian and military personnel, and then Shepherd was called away. Liao was impressed with how well he had taken to the role of community organiser. She had expected some friction between the civilian and military aspects of their government, but so far the system worked well.

  So far.

  She walked away from the ship towards the sprawling camp set up outside the Beijing. A metal sign on two massive struts proudly proclaimed the settlement to be Eden and listed some statistics for population. The most recent addition, the Toralii and the survivors from Belthas IV, had a handwritten note beside them.

  Welcome.

  She went further out, to the tree line, and a crunching noise startled her. Two mechanical beasts, the constructs the Iilan had given her, dug out of the ground near her. They were smooth, articulated beetles with eight legs. As she watched, they both extruded a thin square of unrefined brown metal, then a similar, much thicker square of slag.

  "Halt," she said. The machines obeyed, turning to her as one.

  "Input directive," the nearest one said, its voice thin and synthetic. They stared at her with empty blue optics.

  "State your purpose."

  "Minerals. Gathering. Mining. Processing. Refining. Construction. Fabrication. Testing. Input directive."

  The creatures made her skin crawl. Visually, they reminded her of Ben, but their mannerisms were so different. Ben was articulate. He moved like a living creature, swinging his claws this way and that, skittering around like a hyperactive child. These were inanimate husks.

  Their hindquarters glowed like insects. She had seen that kind of glow before, in the datacores of the Toralii. These Iilan ones were much more advanced. Independent. The Toralii constructs were just drones, but the Iilan ones were not. They had their own minds.

  This made them dangerous.

  "You." She pointed to the leftmost construct, then to the rightmost. "Destroy that drone."

  It went to work without hesitation, its wide mouth opening, a thousand tiny fangs gripping its brother. The doomed construct did not resist, did not struggle as its shell cracked, broke, then spilt its infinitely complicated circuitry on the ground.

  The construct crunched its brother into broken hunks of metal then turned back to her. "Input directive."

  Could she trust them? She didn't know. She knew, in her heart, that she had just destroyed a valuable asset. "Melt down the parts of this drone and create another."

  "Processing." It sat there, thinking for a moment, then spoke. "Clarify intent."

  "Create another copy of yourself from the local resources, including the destroyed drone parts."

  "Processing."

  Liao stared at the creature, almost willing it to say something, anything, that would betray a thinking mind. A living soul, plotting against them, teeming with emotions and anger just as Ben had been.

  She would not permit another massacre to happen on the surface of Velsharn.

  "Request acknowledged. Process will take fourteen standard Human hours. Confirm request."

  "Proceed," said Liao. "Once the construction is complete, report to Summer Rowe with the new drone."

  "Directive confirmed." The construct immediately turned and began to work. It impassively collected the damaged parts of its brother, funnelling them into its furnace and super-heating them, separating the glowing metals in a spinning centrifuge.

  It was an impressive display of loyalty, but Liao doubted she could ever accept the presence of constructs as anything more than an emergency measure.

  Ruminating on what she had seen, Liao wandered back through the camp, finding herself back in the Beijing's hangar bay. While crossing the dirt-smeared metal deck towards the inner bowels of the ship, a familiar face smiled at her through the crowd. Olivia. The girl's face was dirty, streaked with the grime of the outside, but she seemed happy when she saw Liao.

  "Captain Liao," she said. "Hello!"

  "Hello, Olivia." Liao was impressed with the child's resilience; the adults all around her were despondent, helpless even, but Olivia didn't seem to be affected by it.

  That was how she had wanted her own child to be. Stronger than adversity.

  "Did you take the book to Miss Rowe?" Liao asked.

  "Yes, miss," Olivia said. "I took it there after Mr. Jul'aran's class."

  "The Toralii language class? I'm glad to see you're attending. How is that coming along?"

  "It's hard, but I'm starting to understand some words. They're going really slow, so we all have time to learn."

  "That's good." Liao reached out and touched her hair. "Study hard, okay?" Her hand came away grimy. "And get a shower. You're all dirty."

  "I can't. The showers are too busy most days, and there are too many people there."

  "Why don't you go when it's not busy?"

  "It's always busy."

  Liao ran her finger through the girl's hair. It came away covered in grease and dirt. "How long has it been since you had a bath?"

  Her scrunched up, confused face told her everything she needed to know.

  "Here," said Liao, "come with me."

  One of the privileges of rank was private amenities, which included a shower-bath. Liao lead Olivia back to her quarters, then stripped her down and ran the bath.

  Olivia reacted to the billowing clouds of steam that rose from the porcelain bath with a fascination Liao found disturbing. It was wrong for a child to be deprived of sanitation as she had been. As soon as the water was an appropriate temperature, she helped Olivia inside.

  Dirt pooled in the water, turning it brown, a seemingly endless trickle constantly running off her. Every time Liao thought Olivia was clean, some other part of her was exposed and found dirty.

  "Are you actually made of dirt?" Liao asked, rubbing shampoo through Olivia's long hair, stubbornly trying to work the foam as deeply as she could.

  "Maybe. There aren't many places to sleep, and the big kids and grownups take all the best ones."

  "Do they now?"

  "Yeah. Mr. Shepherd said that he'd look into it, but he's been super busy."

  "But you're getting enough to eat
?" asked Liao. "Fresh water?"

  "Oh, yeah. There's usually fish and stuff, but I don't like rice, and it seems to be dinner every night."

  Children could be picky eaters. Adults, too, but accommodating individual taste was currently impossible. "It's a common staple, and our ship has it in ample supply. It stores well and is high in energy."

  "Yeah. My dad says that kind of thing a lot. We couldn't afford a lot of rich food back in Texas, but there was a job there, and so we had to move."

  Liao's fingers worked across her scalp. "Where are you originally from?"

  "All over the place. Mostly. My dad came to Texas looking for work. He kept me in school, even though I knew nobody. Said it was important."

  "It was important. It still is important."

  "But all we learn is Toralii. We don't learn math or anything. It's too short."

  Olivia's hair was finally getting clean. Liao worked her fingers through it then began rinsing. "I'll talk to Mr. Shepherd," she said, Saara's words echoing in her ears. "And I'll see if we can get a proper school established. We're going to need educated people in the days ahead, especially when the current population gets old."

  "But you're already old," said Olivia.

  "Thanks, kid." Liao laughed and splashed her. "I meant, when I'm too old to run this ship and all the people in it."

  "Yeah." Olivia's damp hair clung to her body as she looked up at Liao. "You're, like, old enough to be a mum."

  The words bit her like teeth, but if she was ever going to move past this pain, she had to carry on. She had to have strength to push past the constant reminders and look to the future.

  "Yeah, I am old." Liao stood, taking the plug with her. "Okay, you, you've enjoyed the captain's facilities a little longer than you really should have. You're clean, so you can go."

  Olivia laughed and towelled down her hair as the water ran out. "I got to use the captain's bath. The other kids are going to be super jealous."