by Chris Hechtl
While they waited for the Terran delegates from Sol, General Elliot arranged a demonstration of some of the Marine equipment up on request. The Taurens and Veraxin were taken aback by the demonstration of Terran powered armor, their usage and apparent acceptance of robots, smart computers, and material-based fighting. They were also impressed and a little fearful of how far humans had come to defend themselves, making up shortcomings in very short time.
The Veraxins admitted that they had never explored powered armor but were intrigued by the concepts.
Menolly exposed them to Terran medical technology, which they also found impressive. “The depth of destruction in your species is balanced by the depth of empathy to your own wounded and to others you wound. It is … surprising,” the Tauren Echo bull rumbled.
“Yes, we're full of surprises,” Menolly replied with a nod.
“Why do you allow the bugs to see this? Why us?” the Tauren asked hesitantly.
"They are here for trade," Menolly said.
The Tauren turned to the others and murmured to them for a moment. Menolly politely turned away, giving them some space or at least the illusion of it. She could tell that they were surprised by the idea of trade between species.
"But they are alien!" a bull said, indicating a Veraxin.
"So?" Menolly said, shaking her head. “So are you. Would you rather trade or shoot at each other? We can learn a lot from each other … if we're willing to try and to listen,” she stressed.
The Tauren blinked. "You …"
Menolly nodded as a Neochimp came over and handed her a tablet. She scanned it and then put her thumbprint on it. “We've learned to get along with many different species over the years. Like Amy here,” she said, patting the nurse on the shoulder.
The Neochimp waved a shy hand to the delegation.
"We thought they were your females," one of the Taurens said.
Amy snorted and then giggled. Menolly cracked a smile. "No. The neos were genetically engineered by our people. Look, it's a long story," she said as Amy nodded.
“I have heard this,” Dreamer said. The other Taurens turned to him and then to the human. "And you've created artificial constructs? Intelligences?" the Beta bull asked.
Menolly nodded. "Yes."
"That's amazing! Our people have tried for years … I mean …," a Veraxin cut himself off as another turned to buzz at him.
"I understand." Menolly said with a self-depreciating smile. "Life has become a bit complicated, but my people like it that way it seems. We've dreamed of contact for a long time."
"Ours did as well. Until the reality set in and competition for resources …," the Veraxin signaled second-level regret to the Taurens.
"It's a big galaxy. There is room enough for everyone if we work together,” Menolly said firmly.
"You say that now …," a Tauren rumbled.
"You don't have to be alone. We're not anymore. We can be more. You can be more. We don't want to fight, but we will to protect our people. To protect our children," she said firmly.
The Taurens stopped and stared at her for a long moment. Finally, Dreamer nodded. "As will we."
“As will we,” the leader of the Veraxins said.
“Something we have in common then. But let's not fight. The more we find common ground and work together the more we can grow."
"Agreed," Dreamer said. The others looked at him. “Look at what the Terrans did to defend themselves in such a short time? And what we did?” he shook his head. “That was under threat. What can we do together? Inspiring each other?”
“It is … something to think about. When we came to these talks, I thought we would be negotiating to stay in our own space. But … this is indeed something to consider.”
(@)()(@)
When he had the time, Jack made certain to look up the Tauren Dreamer. The massive alien seemed to be fascinated by Terran technology. “Your people, they are so different. So many species …,” Dreamer murmured, watching a group of children at play. “And you fit in such tight areas,” he said as he watched a Neocub duck into a tube in a playground set and then pop out a hole to startle another cub. The two fell into a wrestling giggling pile.
“Your ships are like that too. I was impressed by the level of miniaturization. You can repair them far easier in the field too,” Dreamer rumbled, twitching his ears. He had seen the massive fleet in orbit of the planet. It was easily twice as large as the one that his people had battled in Rolling Meadows. It was a humbling thing to see such firepower.
"Not all our people can handle it. It is a mental strain. It can go both ways; some can have great fear of large spaces too. But there are those dedicated to defending our people."
"I see. They seemed … hurried though. There are faults in the design. They are not as efficient as they could be. Please excuse my bluntness," Dreamer said turning to the human leader.
Jack nodded slowly. "There are. Yes, the designs were rushed, at least for the warships. We'll iron that out now that we have time."
Dreamer nodded. "I see."
"Before we met you we didn't have warships. There were many who insisted that it wasn't necessary. That any species that went to the stars was peace loving," Jack said wryly. “You've cured us of that romantic notion.”
The Tauren snorted. "A long time ago my ancestors thought the same thing."
Jack cocked his head. "And you found out differently?"
"Many times. The universe is a dangerous uncaring place. We were thrown from our home herd worlds over and over again, driven out or our people slaughtered. We had to defend ourselves. It toughened us. It is seen as a form of evolution."
"I agree," he nodded. "I hope what we have done here will teach us all many lessons. But I hope we learn to cooperate too."
"Respect for one," the Tauren said. "You humans are small but you fight well," Dreamer said dryly.
Jack fought to smile broadly at that compliment. "Thank you."
The Tauren turned to examine the growing city and then up to the sky above. They could just make out the shapes of the stations there. "I still find it hard to believe that you did this all in such a short time."
Jack looked up as well but then to the alien. "Small ships and a burning need to have them," he smiled a tight-lipped smile. The diplomatic Xenologists were still insisting a show of teeth would be seen as an offensive gesture.
"It will be hard for you to keep making machines of war?" the Tauren asked. “I think not.”
Jack hid a grimace. "I don't know. Now that we have seen a true need for them … not as hard, or at least hopefully not as hard. Some of our people do not like a strong military; they fear it. We shall see what the future brings."
"You must defend what land you have," Dreamer rumbled, “or other species will come and take it. Now our people are at that mercy, your mercy as well.”
"True. You as well, I admit that,” Jack replied with a nod. “We have no interest in taking the worlds you have. We hope you feel the same."
"I … it will be hard. Our people need a lot of room to grow." The Tauren spread his three-fingered hands. "We have run out of places to go. The pressure on the herd to expand or die is enormous."
"And your space habitats are full?"
The Tauren blinked at him and then chuffed. "None have been built in centuries since all prefer to live on a breathing world."
"I bet there are some out there, those that serve on your ships who could handle it," Jack said thoughtfully.
"When they retire they wish to have open spaces. Each has a land grant for their services to the herd."
Jack nodded. That they had in common it seemed. "Ah, I see." He waited a beat, then shrugged. “We have that in common as well.”
"It is a problem, but one we are not certain of what to do. Now we have many who have joined to defend our people … and they each want land."
"True. As our people say, everyone wants a piece of the pieA—a share. I believe we can work with you on
that." He cocked his head thoughtfully, "Have you terraformed many planets?"
"That word again …"
"Terraformed. It means find a planet that is near what you want and then alter it to fit your needs."
The bull's ears twitched and then lifted in interest. "Alter?"
"Engineer."
"Engineer … no …," the Tauren rubbed the whiskers dangling from his chin thoughtfully. "If that is possible, it is an interesting concept."
"Every system can be altered if you change a variable or add or subtract something from it," Jeeves explained. “Every star system has a zone where habitable planets can be. By making alterations, a civilization can turn a once lifeless world into a living one.”
"I see," the bull said slowly, stroking his beard. He seemed confused however.
"The three planets in my system, we came from one. We have been altering the other two to fit our people's needs. One of the planets has been changed to support life. There are some people living there now, but their atmosphere is being converted so they can live on it without a suit. It is cold and the air is thin, but they can breathe there. The other planet is terribly hot. Molten hot. We are moving the planet and cooling it off."
The bull's eyes flared wide. “Moving the planet? Is that even possible? To do so …?” He shook his head in wonder.
“Yes. It can be done. It has been done with several planets here and elsewhere. Dolos for instance is being terraformed. Eden has been terraformed. We started the process on hundreds of worlds,” Jack replied with a shrug. “I think we're up to thousands by now. Some will take longer to change than others.”
"Fascinating! Are you willing to trade such technology?"
"The concepts are easy to grasp. We are willing to help you. Possibly sell it to you, I don't know, or sell you worlds we change."
"There are many worlds we have found that are near but unsuited for life," the bull said. “It is one reason we went after your colonies.”
Jack nodded slowly. "We can help you with that."
"As you said, we can find mutual ground," Jack said as they heard a scuttling sound. He saw the Tauren's skin twitch. He wondered if it was a suppressed shudder of revulsion, but he had learned to get over his fear of the alien as the bug came over to them.
"All of us," the human said, nodding to the Veraxin ambassador as he came up to them. The Veraxin's four eyestalks swirled. He signaled first-level agreement with his upper arms.
"Indeed. My people have been fascinated by your … western films for many years," the bug replied.
"I see," the human said, chuckling.
“Films?” the Tauren asked.
“We make many methods of entertaining ourselves and our children. One is in various forms of entertainment video,” Jack replied.
“Yes, a scout ship picked up their transmissions not so long ago. It fascinated us,” the Veraxin replied.
“He's talking about the transmissions we broadcast across our planet ages ago,” Jack explained. “When we were first learning about how to broadcast.”
“Ah. Such things can be dangerous. The spoor can lure other species to your world,” the Tauren rumbled.
“It is something our government will need to consider,” Jack said with a nod. “I'm still impressed with how you innovated. And you managed to do it, in the field, just from seeing our own hardware, and you got it done with little errors!” he shook his head. “And not a lot of computer support either,” he said in wonder.
“My people love to make things, to study how they work. You showed us the new things.”
“And once someone sees something is possible, it becomes possible for them to replicate it,” Jack murmured.
“Like your species cooperation,” the Veraxin replied. “So many species working together and working with artificial constructs!” he buzzed, feather antenna moving and then flopping in the breeze. “Quite fascinating. Perhaps our species can learn from that as well,” he said.
“Perhaps,” Dreamer rumbled with a nod of agreement.
(@)()(@)
While the government got its act together, the colonies did their best to rebuild. Trade broke out between them, at first using the navy ships and then the first freighters that the small Pyrax yard built. Even the Veraxins got into the act by trading for goods.
Negotiations to end the war took time since Confederation State Department negotiators with the authority to do so had to be dispatched, then had to report back the treaty so it could be approved of by the Confederation Congress. The state department leaders were not amused by Jack's meddling in their affairs. They were even less amused by his ramming through local autonomy in some things, including the use of nanotechnology. As long as he kept it low key and out of the news, the delegates decided to let it slide.
When the Tauren delegation had arrived in Pyrax, Jack had spoken with them, feeling them out. From their discussions they had worked out a tentative peace deal that he had felt would work for both sides. It would remain up to the actual negotiators though to finalize it and get approval.
The Taurens had agreed to pay reparations; it was just the amount that was left to wrangle. They also agreed to open trade with the Terrans and Veraxins. He was sourly certain that Sol would soak up most of the money to pay for the war efforts. If any of the colonies saw a dime, he would be highly surprised.
And then there was the method of how the Taurens were supposed to pay for it all. They were a socialist civilization; capitalism wasn't in their nature. Most likely the credits would be in the form of rare trade goods he surmised.
“Do you think your species will neglect their defenses again?” a bull asked.
Jack glanced at General Elliot who snorted. “Never again. Not if we can help it.”
“Yeah, what he said,” the Neochimp general said.
“And what of the ancient ones? The Forerunners? They will not be happy you are using their bridges. Nor will they be happy about your creation of artificial constructs or small robots. There could be heavy reprisals from them.”
“I thought your species was working on them too?” Jack asked, turning to the lead Veraxin.
“We were,” the alien admitted.
“If we encounter the Forerunners, we will deal with them. I don't know how or when,” Jack said with a shrug.
“Such confidence … I see we have a lot to learn from you,” the Beta bull murmured.
“From each other,” the Veraxin amended, signaling first-degree agreement.
“Agreed,” Jack replied.
(@)()(@)
Antigua invested heavily in rebuilding but also invested in defense and industry. In order to keep the planet clean, the new government chose a phased plan to build industrial station cities near the asteroid belt. The first would be known as Antigua Prime and was intended to be a jewel of the sector.
Protodon was so impoverished by the bombing and rebuilding that their scratch government agreed to sell off their asteroid belt to a corporation to help rebuild the planet, defend it with defensive satellites, and accelerate the terraforming. Unfortunately, the people that they had planned on coming in the follow-up waves to help pay for the colony had decided to go to colonies in the core systems instead.
Of course, not all of the money went to its intended purpose. The new government used some of the money to get airships and wet ships built. The waterborne craft were built to fish the seas of the planet.
Some were dredges built to scour the sea floor and then spray the sand and gravel to build artificial islands and expand natural ones. Some connected islands together. They used rocks to form breakwaters to protect them.
(@)()(@)
Some of the Edenite colonists surprised the liberators from Sol by defending the Taurens. The Tauren POWs on Gaston were relocated to Eden aboard a series of ships over the course of several months while the negotiating was underway. None of the other Terran colonies would tolerate them after what had happened. Governor Schotte was firm about having G
aston cleared of every last Tauren.
The Tauren colonists and POWs were freed and placed on their own island on Eden. The Tauren delegation visited them regularly. They had expected the captives to be dead.
During the talks the terraforming of Dolos was brought up. Jack made it clear his people were open to sharing the planet if the Tauren colonists were willing to follow the laws set down … and help pay for the cost of the terraforming. That was eagerly agreed to. He was amused when the Veraxins also chimed in with their interest. That had a cooling effect on the Tauren delegates but only briefly.
“We need to learn to get along. And we can do that when we can get the politicians to get out of the way," Jack said as he turned to see a Tauren calf playing with a group of Terran children and cubs.
“Agreed,” Dreamer replied. He had decided to remain on Eden in the Tauren enclave. He wished to explore the Terran engineering system, explore the terraforming of Dolos, and had taken an interest in a few of the cows from the colony herd. The next mating challenge was coming as the seasons changed as well.
He had heard rumors of a world being engineered for thinkers and tinkers. He was intrigued by the concept and wished to explore it more but wasn't certain how to do so. The A.I.-construct Jeeves had recommended he talk to a human known as Doctor Irons. It was an interesting long-term dream that might be worth exploring if his time in Pyrax didn't work out.
The derelict Tauren battleship in Pyrax was left as a potential memorial. Jack privately doubted it would ever happen to Menolly. “To be honest, I think it's a good thing, but unless I get behind it and push they won't. So, let it float out there,” he said with an indifferent shrug.
“The real monument is here, watching the next generation,” Menolly agreed softly, wrapping one arm around his hip as they watched the kids playing together.
(@)()(@)
Sol
2256