Avren: An Auxem Novel

by Lisa Lace

  "The problem is that they are coming through the wormhole. We need to stop them from coming through the wormhole."

  "What is your proposal?" the President of Earth said.

  Elara took a deep breath.

  "We need to destabilize the wormhole."

  There was a chorus of dissent over the idea and Elara winced and sat down, looking uncomfortable. I calmed them all down and addressed the petite scientist.

  "Let's say we all agreed to do this. How would we go about it? What are the risks?"

  "It's a simple procedure. We can use the same technology that helped us stabilize it. I don't know how much you know about wormhole science," she said, glancing around the room. "But before we can make a wormhole safe enough for entry, we actually need to decrease its stability because it helps the particles come into line more easily. It has to do with Manuella's law."

  Seeing the blank looks on the faces around her, she went on without any more technological explanations.

  "My point is that the technology that stabilizes the wormhole can be used to destabilize it."

  "And that would prevent any more ships from coming through it, right?" I said.

  "Yes," she nodded. "And it would destroy any ships that were coming through at the time."

  "But Elara," Jakk said, standing up with a frown on his face. "You're neglecting to tell them that it would also turn the wormhole into a black hole, that would cause super volcanoes, massive earthquakes, and make Earth and likely Susohn, too, completely uninhabitable. These effects would eventually kill anyone unlucky enough to still be on those planets at the time of the destabilization."

  Elara looked surprised at Jakk's in-depth knowledge of wormholes. She flushed, looking uncomfortable at being put on the spot, but pressed on.

  "That's true. But I think we can control it and only let the destabilization go to a certain point before we reverse it."

  "What about the ships that have already come through?"

  "My proposal would have a suction effect that would pull any space craft in the vicinity into the wormhole and destroy it. This certainly isn't a panacea. Any of their vessels that are further in would have to be destroyed by the usual means — chased down and blown up."

  Jakk looked completely taken aback. He looked at me and then back at Elara.

  "Not a bad idea, Ms. Aritza," he said, sitting down.

  Elara blushed again.

  Other people had questions but it was by far the best idea we had had in the hour since we had begun. We took a vote and it won by a large margin.

  As we walked out of the meeting room, Kenna glanced at me.

  "Well, that went well. That Elara's a smart cookie."

  I nodded.

  "Now all we have to do is make it happen without destroying our planets."

  KENNA

  I hated hiding.

  Every other kid loved playing hide and go seek. I never did. My cousins used to come for visits once in a blue moon and sometimes they wanted to play hide and seek. I would make sure and hide somewhere I was sure to be found. If I had hidden too well, I would make little chirping noises until the seeker came looking and found me. I didn't like the whole idea of hiding and being where no one could see you. It just seems to go against something in my personality.

  And yet, here we were, hiding. We were skulking around on Dobu, waiting for the scientists to finish making the calculations necessary to destabilize the wormhole. They had used the computers to figure it out, of course, but we couldn't depend on computers. The scientists were redoing every calculation by hand to make sure it was right. They needed to know exactly what to do in case they had to step in and adjust the parameters manually for any reason.

  With billions of lives hanging in the balance, we were not going to leave it all in the hands of a computer.

  Elara was heading the team and she seemed to me to be the smartest person I had ever met. Not even Jared could compare. When I looked at the calculations, they all seemed like chicken scratches or Greek to me, but to her and the other scientists they meant something. Something that would save lives.

  I have to admit, I was in awe of them. Sure I had my own kind of intelligence but this kind of raw book smarts just impressed the hell out of me. I wandered in to one of the lounges in an empty part of the complex and there was Elara, as if my thoughts had made her materialize.

  "Oh, hey, Kenna," she said. She had a far away look in her eyes, like she had been deep in concentration when I had walked in and broken it.

  "I'm sorry," I said, hastily. "I'm disturbing you. I shouldn't have come here."

  "No," she said, putting out a hand. "Don't go. Please. I'm just finished this. And I'm so tired I can't see straight anyway. I could use a break."

  "Do you want to go for a walk, then?" I said. "I know a nice place and it's a beautiful day. For Dobu anyway, if you ignore the incessant wind and fine dust particles."

  She laughed. It was a bright tinkly sound and her face lit up with happiness. If I'd based my assessment of her on the way she had appeared at that meeting, I would have said she was small, mousy and unattractive. But now, when she was comfortable, and with laughter in her eyes, I could see her for the magical girl she was.

  She was a tiny woman, with a light frame and small perky breasts. She was perfectly proportioned for her size. Her red hair was cut in a short pixie cut that suited her immensely. Her eyes were green and radiated intelligence. The way she was laughing now gave her an air of mischief that she had to conceal when she was at her respectable scientist job.

  "These coveralls are something else," she said, pulling hers on.

  "I know, but it beats changing every time you go outside, right? That's what we thought when we worked here."

  "You worked here before?"

  "I came here with the experimental project. I was one of the gardeners. That's how I met Dar and came to be hanging around with the Susohnnan."

  "Were you here when the terrorists attacked?" Elara looked at me with wide eyes.

  I nodded.

  "And you escaped from the AEA alive?" she said, incredulous.

  "Yes."

  "You must have been one of the few."

  I nodded sadly, thinking about my co-workers who had been killed in the explosions or by the AEA afterwards.

  "Unfortunately, yes."

  "I'm very impressed," she said, looking at me with admiration. I suddenly wondered how old she was. She held a prestigious position on Jakk's crew but she looked about nineteen.

  "Nothing to be impressed about. I just did what was required to survive. You would have done the same."

  "Oh, I'm not sure I could do that. I would probably just die," she said, scratching the back of her hand.

  "Don't talk like that, Elara. We're women. We're naturally tough. We have to take care of these soft-hearted men, don't we?"

  "What are you talking about?" she said. "Men are the tough ones."

  I smiled at her, suddenly feeling playful. It had been a long time since I had hung out with a girlfriend.

  "Didn't anyone tell you the secret, sweetie?" I said. "Men like to act tough and we're kind enough to let them think they're the stronger sex, but really it's us. Women have to be stronger because we have to take care of them."

  "That's crazy. What makes you say so?" she said, smiling at me, intrigued.

  "Well, take Jakk for instance," I said, pulling a name out of the air. The way she blushed made me wish I had chosen someone else. Okay, so she had a crush on the captain, who didn't? He was some serious eye candy and a hard-core flirt. And though I loved Dar and thought he was the most handsome guy, ever, well...a girl can look, can't she?

  I pressed on with my example, anyway.

  "He looks all tough, like he does a thousand push-ups a day and could kill a Viran one-handed. But you would never know that he's dying inside because his marriage is ending and he doesn't know why."

  I pushed open the door to the outside and tried not to breathe deeply
as the wind and dust of Dobu surrounded us.

  "Is that true?" she said, looking at me, eyes wide again. Oh shit. Dar would kill me if he thought I was a gossip.

  "I don't want to start any rumors, Elara," I said, feeling alarmed.

  "No, no, I wouldn't say anything." She looked anguished that I even thought she would spread rumors. "I don't have many friends here anyway. And even if I did, I wouldn't tell anything personal about Captain Dor'lin. I admire him. He's a good leader."

  I was sure she admired more things about him than his leadership skills. But we didn't know each other well enough to ask. The lonely look on her face reminded me of what it was like to be the only human among a bunch of Susohnnan.

  "Of course you wouldn't tell. And now you've got me for a friend," I said and smiled. "Come on, I want to show you one of the nicest places on Dobu."

  I noticed that she was scratching the back of her hand again. I pointed at it. "Are you okay?"

  "Yeah, it's just eczema. It drives me crazy but I've always had it."

  I frowned at her as we rounded the building. Suddenly, we could breathe normally — the wind and dust were much less here because the eternal wind was broken by the large complex that housed the humans on Dobu.

  "Do you have anything for it?"

  "Just some steroid cream. It doesn't get rid of it but it keeps it from itching so badly."

  "Well, on our walk we can find something that will do better than that," I said, thinking hard.

  She looked at me in surprise.

  "I know a bit about herbs. And it just so happens that we have a boreal forest right here on Dobu."

  "What are you talking about?" Elara said, with a skeptical look on her face.

  "The plant project, remember? One of the things we've done here is grow large scale boreal and tropical forests from Earth."

  Just at that moment, I caught sight of the first pine and my heart leapt.

  "Come on, Elara," I said, starting to run. She laughed and ran, too. In a moment, we broke through the trees into the cool, dark interior of the forest. I took a deep breath of the pine scent and smiled.

  I was home.

  "This is amazing," Elara said, glancing around in wonder. "I'm from the southern hemisphere and I've never been in the boreal forest."

  "Well, here we go. I'll give you the tour. And we'll find you some labrador tea to help with that eczema. Do you have it anywhere else on your body?"

  "No, just my hands."

  "Okay, then. You should probably stop using the harsh soaps that are provided and use a much gentler natural soap. I'll give you the name of a supplier on Earth that can have some shipped to you and I'll give you some of mine in the meanwhile. Have you ever heard of oil pulling?"

  "No," she said shaking her head. Elara looked overwhelmed at the amount of information spilling out of me.

  "You should try it. It could clear up your eczema for good."

  "Really?" Elara said, looking like she wasn't sure if she should believe me or not. "I've had it my whole life, you know."

  "Yep. I believe it. And you can get rid of the bacteria that have been causing it your whole life just by oil pulling. Take a spoonful of oil — coconut oil is the best, they have it at the store here — and swish it in your mouth for twenty minutes morning and night. Then brush your teeth as usual. It can clear out bacteria in your mouth that might be migrating elsewhere in your body and causing problems. It's been known to cure eczema, as well as a lot of other things."

  "Wow, great. I'll try it." She looked excited.

  "I'll make up a bunch of labrador tea for you. Wash your hands in it three times a day. When your hands have dried, put on some coconut oil. It might help," I said. I was in my element.

  "This is great. Thank you so much, Kenna."

  "No problem. It feels good to be useful again."

  "You don't feel useful right now?" Elara said, looking at me curiously as we hiked through the bush. I was looking for a marsh I knew was around here. There was sure to be labrador tea growing.

  "Don't get me wrong," I said. "I love Dar and we've been happy together most of the time I've known him, which I must admit hasn't been long. But it's been so crazy I haven't been able to settle into any kind of work. And I'm the kind of woman who needs something to do. I'm not good at just sitting around, you know?"

  "I know. I've got to be busy too."

  "How're the calculations going?"

  "We're almost done," she said, sighing. "I'm kind of paranoid. The lives of billions of people are hanging on whether or not we've done every calculation correctly. I've had everyone recheck them five times."

  "Five times?" I laughed, incredulous. "Are you serious?"

  "I'm extremely paranoid. What if we get one subtraction wrong or something and it's my fault that everyone on Earth and Susohn die? Or the galaxy becomes uninhabitable because of a big black hole in the middle?"

  "At least we won't be slaves," I said, joking. Then I got serious. "Look, I admire your attention to detail, Elara, but it's time to stop checking and start doing."

  "I know. I know."

  "The scouts reported that the alien ships stopped coming in, then started up again, then stopped. Right now there are about four hundred ships near the wormhole. They're waiting for something."

  We came to the marsh I was looking for and I spotted the low growing labrador tea immediately. I squatted and began pulling off the elongated ovals. They were thin, tough and had medicinal uses.

  Elara sat down against a tree.

  "I'm scared of making a mistake and having everything all go to shit," she said.

  "You're awesome at your job, Elara. You've already done your best and then some. What else can you do?"

  She nodded. The little collection bag I had brought was nearly full and I started on another one. I wanted to give her several bottles full of the tea.

  "So, Elara, what do you have your degrees in?" I said, changing the subject. I knew that she held several.

  "I wanted to study psychiatry for a couple years on Earth. And I did part of a degree before I realized that it was not for me."

  I smiled, wondering how she had even managed it for two years. She did not seem like a people person.

  "That's when I went into astrophysics. It's a lot less complicated." She said this with a completely straight face and I stopped picking to stare at her.

  "You heard what you just said, didn't you?"

  She grinned at me.

  "Comets are far less complicated than people."

  "I'll give you that," I said, standing up. "All right. I've got enough here. We can head back."

  "Thanks, Kenna."

  "For what?" I said.

  "For the talk and taking me to this place. I haven't had anyone to just chat with in a while." Her face was earnest as she thanked me and it warmed my heart.

  "My pleasure," I said, smiling. I genuinely enjoyed her company and I hoped that we would be friends. As long as we didn't all die in the next few days, of course.

  When we got back to the complex, I made the tea and delivered it to her, along with an extra jar of coconut oil I had lying around and a bar of natural soap.

  I met Dar on my way back to my room.

  Seeing him coming down the hall made my heart stop. Sure, we had made love recently but it had felt a little fake. The real Dar was hiding inside this man somewhere, afraid to come out. I wanted him back. I had cried almost every night since he had lost his memories. The moments when he regained his mind were even worse because that's when I remembered everything I loved about him. Then he was gone again, just like that. I wondered if I would ever have him back. Right at that moment, I promised myself that if I got him back I would never, ever take him for granted.

  "Kenna," he said, smiling at me. "I was just looking for you."

  "You were?"

  "Yes," he said. "Would you show me around?"

  My stomach dropped. I knew what he wanted. He wanted me to take him to places where
significant things had happened here on Dobu. He knew that we had met here. He was hoping to jog his memory.

  I grimaced. I had had enough of that sort of thing.

  "Please?" His eyes were begging me to help him. What would his sheeranla do? She would help in whatever way she could. "I know it's been hard on you, Kenna. But there's no one else I can ask."

  Why was I being so snarky? He needed my help. I should stop being so selfish.

  "It's fine. Not a problem. I'll give you the tour," I said, trying for nonchalance. "Come on. This is a pretty small place. It won't take long."

  "Great. Thanks Kenna," he said and started heading to the main entrance.

  "Wrong way," I said, turning and going in the other direction. "All the fun parts of the complex are over here."

  "First stop, the party room," I said, indicating it gracefully with my arm. "This is where we met."

  I looked around. It was just an empty conference room with a bar at the back. It had seemed a lot more exciting that night I had come here, way back when. I shook my head, thinking about how my boss had wanted me to try and figure out what the Susohnnan were up to.

  "You should have seen me in my first ever Susohnnan outfit. I thought it was quite scandalous."

  "Why were you wearing a Susohnnan outfit?" he said, confused. So, I explained my whole spy scenario and he smiled at the thought.

  "You let me take you home?" he said. "Weren't you worried about having sex with an alien?"

  "I was. I had never done anything like that before. But I decided it was time for me to have some fun and live it up a little. I had spent the previous years of my life just getting by and I was tired of it."

  I watched him look around the room. It was clear he didn't remember anything.

  "Besides, we had chemistry together," I said. "It was there from the beginning. Come on. Next stop, your fake room."

  It turned out that the fake room that Mana had set up had been in one of the sections destroyed in the bombing.

  "You can't see the room but you can imagine what went on inside since you've already had a taste," I said. I blushed. I couldn't believe I just said that.

  His eyes darkened and I felt for a moment a shadow of the old, confident Dar.