“Roger that, we are ready to monitor the test.”
“OK, everyone stand well clear of the filter array, I'm turning the pumps on!”
Jim made a few adjustments to the drill head equipment and a slight shudder passed through the filter's petals. No other change was visible.
“Is it working?” asked Ahnah a few minutes later. The ursine scientist was impatient for a polar bear.
“Yes, Ahnah, it's working within its design parameters.”
“Collector, Wellhead. We are getting positive flow of water at the head. Heavy water concentration is nominal. We are starting flow to the ship. Over.”
“Roger, Wellhead. I'm maintaining the flow rate.”
Both bears drifted to the same side of the filter array, surprisingly graceful in their heavy pressure suits. Thrusters in their suits' hind-legs made up for being unable to paddle effectively with the front ones, the normal mode of swimming for polar bears.
“OK, now what do we do?”
“You are awful fidgety for a polar bear, lady.”
“I just like to be doing something useful, unlike you.”
“Sometimes doing nothing is the right thing to do.”
“Wow, he-bear zen.”
“Hey, did you see that?”
“What?”
“I thought I saw motion out of the corner of my eye, just outside of the range of the lights.”
“Wildlife of some kind?”
“One way to find out. Hey Jim, how about cutting the lights for a minute?”
“Sure, but everybody keep your suit lights on.”
The illuminated hemisphere surrounding the Earthlings and their equipment faded to blackness. As their eyes adjusted to the darkness faint shapes could be made out, slowly edging closer. Large luminous eyes, crystalline bodies as long as a dolphin, each framed with rippling membranes, top and bottom, and tipped with a clutch of writhing tentacles.
“Wellhead, Collector. It appears that we are not alone down here.”
Chapter 3
Collector Array, the Sunless Sea
“What do you make of those?” asked Umky, moving a bit closer to Ahnah as the transparent apparitions drifted nearer.
“They look like some form of squid,” the ursine biologist replied. “There are deep water species back on Earth that are similar looking—almost wholly transparent.”
“You're right, Ahnah, The family Cranchiidae comprises approximately 60 species of popularly named glass squid, the largest of which can grow to three meters in length,” Will added, “though I doubt that these creatures are related to any Earth life.”
“Yet another example of parallel evolution.”
“Parallel evolution?” asked a quizzical Umky.
“Yes, we see the same morphologies in totally different species in response to similar ecological niches. It happens on Earth and it happens on other planets, in other star systems. For a smart bear you don't seem to have much knowledge of biology.”
“Hey, I help fly a starship and, on occasion, I kill aliens. I don't have to understand how or why they evolved. I'm a simple bear with simple needs.”
“'A simple man, a simple plan, the world's too big to understand',” Jim chimed in, borrowing a line from Jimmy Buffett.
“'Be good and you will be lonesome, be lonesome and you will be free',” Will added.
“Now that's a sentiment I can agree with,” said Umky.
“You know Buffett stole that line from Mark Twain?”
“Marvelous, Will,” Ahnah replied. “Could we get some video of the indigenous lifeforms before nasty Nanook here starts killing them?”
“Come on, Ahnah, I'm not going to kill them. Not unless they attack us or try to break the filter array.”
The strange glass like creatures halted their advance a respectful five meters from the two bears. Will worked his way across the bottom of the ice, to a sheltered position next to Jim and the drill head.
“What do you think they are doing?” asked Jim.
“Trying to figure out if we're good to eat,” replied Umky.
Sickbay, Peggy Sue
After returning her sword and butterflies to her quarters and taking a quick shower, Mizuki went to the medical section to talk with her friend, Betty. They had been together on previous voyages and had fought side-by-side on occasion. Betty had also healed her when she was grievously wounded on the trek across Ring Station. Of all those on board, the ship's doctor was Mizuki's BFF.
“Hey, girlfriend. What brings you to my lair today?”
“Hello, Betty. I need someone to talk to.”
“And Bobby is busy?”
“Someone female.”
“Oh, that type of talk. Step into my office.”
Betty ushered her friend into her office off the main ward. Mizuki sat in the patient's chair and Betty set the observation windows to opaque, giving them some privacy.
“Now what's this all about?”
“You know that I love Shadi and Dorri...”
Mizuki paused, finding she lacked the words to express her concerns.
“And?” Betty prompted.
“I'm not sure how to explain this.” Mizuki looked down at her lap where the fingers of both hands were intertwined and knotted together. She stopped fidgeting and placed her hands on the chair arms. “Shadi has been flirting with Bobby.”
“That girl has been flirting with every man on board for months.”
“But Bobby encourages her!” There was a hint of anguish in Mizuki's voice.
“Shadi is a very pretty girl. The only man who does not respond to flirting from a pretty girl is a dead man,” Betty placed a reassuring sisterly hand on one of Mizuki's. “It doesn't mean anything, it's how men are wired.”
“But why is she doing this? She knows Bobby and I are, are... together.”
Betty leaned back in her chair and exhaled. After taking a couple of seconds to gather her thoughts she forged ahead.
“Mizuki, we think of Shadi as a girl but biologically she's not, she's a woman. All her reproductive systems are online and throbbing with natural, species preserving energy. She's starting to shop for a mate, even if she doesn't quite understand that yet herself.”
“Well she can't have my mate!” There was anger in Mizuki's reply and the beginning of tears in her eyes.
“It isn't just Bobby. She flirts with Lt. Lewis and that handsome shuttle pilot and even smiles at the Captain when she thinks Beth isn't looking. She's having feelings and sensations she's never felt before, and it will take some time for her to get accustomed to them. You remember when you were a young woman, just after going through puberty, don't you?”
“I never made eyes at other women's husbands,” Mizuki mumbled, looking down at her hands, which were back in her lap.
“Women are sexual animals just as much as men are. Unfortunately, she doesn't have any young men to experiment on or become enamored with. She is probably having erotic dreams and waking up aroused by them.”
Mizuki's gaze snapped back to Betty's face.
“She's dreaming of sex with Bobby?”
“Not necessarily, and it wouldn't matter if she did—dream of Bobby I mean, not have sex with him. Come on, girlfriend. You telling me you never woke up with stiff nipples and dew on the grass?”
Mizuki blushed.
“Look, this is all normal. Shadi is just trying out her new found sexuality. I'm surprised it took this long, but then she comes from a repressive society when it comes to women.”
Of course, so do you, Betty thought. She smiled kindly at her friend and in a softer voice said: “Has Bobby shown any signs of acting on Shadi's flirting, of cheating on you?”
“No.”
“And I doubt he ever would. That man is crazy in love with you girl, has been for years. You need to give him some credit in the faithfulness department.”
“I suppose so.” Mizuki said meekly.
“If it will make you feel better I'll call Shadi in a
nd give her a motherly talk about sex and boys and all that. I should probably talk to Dorri too, she's not far behind her big sister in the coming of age process.”
“Great, soon I will have to worry about both of them.”
“Not in the way you're thinking. Remember there are a lot more men on this ship than women, and every last one of them is horny as hell by this time in the voyage. I'm surprised there haven't been fights over the girls already.”
“Really?” That thought had not occurred to Mizuki.
“Yeah, just wait. We need to get back to port and fairly soon. That or find some aliens to fight. This is why old time sailing ships had all male crews—of course they relied on saltpeter and still had widespread buggery.”
Crew's Quarters, Peggy Sue
Shadi and Dorri emerged from the women's showers, dressed in crisp new jumpsuits, with their still damp hair wrapped in towels. Living and working among the crew of the Peggy Sue was a liberating experience for the two sisters. Things were much more open on board compared with their old life in the Iran of the Ayatollahs or in Imam Mustafa's flock of colonists.
Iran had not been strictly segregated by sex, as some Arab countries were, but the Imam had been only a half step away from fanatics like the Taliban or ISIS. Here men and women not only mingled but worked side by side. Of course there were some downsides—you couldn't hide a bad hair day with a headscarf or dress casually beneath an ankle length burqa. But in general the girls were having the time of their young lives.
The sisters conversed as they passed through the crew's lounge, headed forward to their quarters in the chiefs' area, known as the goat locker.
“Living in a mixed gender environment is nice,” said Dorri, “but I'm glad we don't have co-ed showers like in that movie we watched last week.”
The movie was Starship Troopers, a film loosely based on a book by Robert Heinlein. In it the soldiers of the future, male and female, all showered together.
“I don't think I could do that—shower naked with people I know,” Shadi replied.
“Yeah, you would end up staring at the guys,” her sister teased.
Shadi pulled the towel off her head and snapped it at Dorri, who nimbly skipped outside of towel range.
“I do not stare at all the men.”
“Oh, you mean like you didn't make googly eyes at Commander Danner today?”
“I did not!”
“Did too! Why do you think Dr. Ogawa did that thing with her sword, chopping down those mats while blindfolded?”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Since you have started mooning after every handsome officer in trousers your powers of observation have gone to pot.”
“I do not moon after every handsome officer, and everybody on board wears trousers... well, jumpsuits.”
“You know what I mean.” Dorri pressed her point as they arrived at the door to their quarters. The sisters shared a comfortable cabin with twin bunks, nicer than the average crewmember had. They also generally dined with the officers in the main lounge.
Shadi hustled her sister into the room and shut the door.
“What in heaven's name are you talking about? Dr. Ogawa was just showing us what we could learn if we practice.”
“Bullshit! She saw you making eyes at her husband.”
“I did not! And you are picking up too many expressions from the crew.”
Dorri stuck out her tongue.
“You called him 'Bobby'. You think she didn't notice? She notices everything.”
Shadi swallowed hard.
“That little demonstration was to show you what might happen if you keep messing around with her man.” Dorri, sensing that she had won the argument, smiled a wicked smile.
“Was I really that obvious?” Shadi sat on her bunk and put her head in her hands. She looked up at her sister and said: “I have got to get a hold of myself, I'm not some cheap tramp. It's just that, lately, I can't help myself.”
“I'd like some boys to flirt with myself. The crew, especially the officers, seem so old.”
“Trust me, they get younger looking every day.”
“At least stick with the younger officers, they are supposed to be gentlemen.”
“You're right. Some of the crew are down right disgusting.”
“No argument there, Khahar-e Bozorgtar.”
* * * * *
Lurking in the Crew Lounge was one of the disgusting crewmembers Shadi was referring to. Raoul Mendez had been a crewman aboard the ESS Fortune, the Colony Board ship that was destroyed at Paradise. Formerly the ship's navigator, his surly attitude and general incompetence marginalized his position aboard the Peggy Sue.
He had been given a chance to become the junior navigator, under Dr. Ogawa, but he managed to blow that by constantly saying inappropriate things to her. Eventually he grabbed the astrophysicist when no one was watching. This earned him a cracked sternum and demotion to cleanup duty. If it had been up to Chief Zackly, Mendez would have ended up floating back to Earth without benefit of ship or spacesuit.
One by one, he had been rebuffed by every female crew member, or at least the human ones. Since then he had been brooding and spying on the two young Iranian sisters whenever he could. Resentment blossomed into hatred, eating at him every day.
One day, he thought, one day I will catch you in an equipment locker or the hydroponics section and you'll find out. Just wait, you stuck up little bitches.
He turned and left the lounge. If he lingered too long in one location the Chief invariably found him and gave him more work to do. He'd love to take care of that little SOB too, but the Chief himself was meaner than a snake and not someone to mess with. That's why Mendez was fixated on the girls, they were the only people on board he figured he could overpower physically.
CIC, Peggy Sue
When word came that the engineers were ready to test the deuterium extraction process, both the Captain and First Officer moved to the Combat Information Center. The big holographic projection tank in the middle of the room showed a 3D cutaway model of the wellhead, shaft, and the aquanauts around the filter array in the hidden sea. Then came word that indigenous life forms had been sighted.
“Collector, Peggy Sue. Can you send us a video feed of the locals?”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” replied Michaels, recognizing his CO's voice, “adjusting the pickups now.”
A large screen on the forward bulkhead showed a view of ghostly creatures, floating in darkness. Occasionally, a ripple of colored light would travel down the spine of one of the creatures, to be answered by others nearby.
“Did you see those light signals?” asked Beth. “I wonder if they are communicating with each other?”
“Don't know, Number One, could be.”
Billy Ray had taken to calling Beth Number One when they were in front of the crew because calling her “Commander” or “Ms. Melaku” sounded too formal—after all, the crew knew they were married. Still, he figured that calling her “sweetheart” or “honey bunch,” as he did in private or with close friends, was probably inappropriate. So, on the advice of the ship's sailing master, Bobby Danner, he settled on “Number One.”
Bobby was a science fiction fan, and knew full well that “Number One” was the nickname given by Captain Christopher Pike to his first officer on the USS Enterprise in the original Star Trek TV show. Number One was noted for her exceptional intelligence and rationality, and Captain Pike regarded Number One as the most experienced officer on the Enterprise. In the script of “The Cage,” Number One was described as “female, slim and dark in a Nile Valley way, age uncertain, one of those women who will always look the same between the ages of twenty and fifty.” Beth's roots lay in Ethiopia, not Egypt, but Billy Ray figured that was close enough.
Beth accepted the sobriquet without comment. Like her fictitious namesake, this Number One exhibited little emotion or affection toward the Captain in public. This seeming lack of affection was largely a pretense, howev
er, as the couple demonstrated frequently in the privacy of their shared cabin.
“You know, finding life in this system means there is long term hope for life in the solar system.”
“How so?”
“This ice moon circles a gas giant, orbiting a white dwarf, the burned out ember of a star that had been about the size as our Sun. In four or five billion years the Sun will swell into a red giant and swallow Earth, before blowing off its outer layers and becoming a cooling ember like this system's star. This shows that life may survive in the solar system on the moons of Jupiter or Saturn, even after the death of the Sun.”
“A happy though, Number One. Either way we won't be there to see it. Michaels, are you in any danger down there?”
“Negative, sir. So far they just seem curious.”
In the blink of an eye, all the creatures disappeared from the screen.
“What just happened?” asked Beth.
“Aw, seal shit!” growled a deep voice over the comm.
Collector Array, the Sunless Sea
Ahnah had drifted closer to the strange transparent creatures, separating herself from Umky and the filter array. She was about half way between Umky and the visitors when the squid suddenly scattered in all directions. This was behavior recognizable by any predator—prey fleeing from a threat.
This thought occurred to both bears at the same time, but before either could act a large gray something flashed past and Ahnah was gone.
“Aw, seal shit!”
Umky was in immediate pursuit. The pressure suits had instrumentation and heads up displays based on the Marines' battle armor. From training and long habit, Umky reflexively brought up a tactical display that tracked the location of other squad members. On it, he could see the icon representing Ahnah traveling away and downward.
“Ahnah, are you OK?” He called.
There was no answer, just a muffled sound—half grunt, half growl. Telemetry showed she was still alive and not grievously injured.
“Umky!” yelled Jim. “What ever got her is trying to take her deep. If it dives deeper than a kilometer or two her suit could implode.”
The Queen's Daemon (T'aafhal Legacy Book 2) Page 4