Aldebaran Divided

by Philippe Mercurio

  Alerted by the change in gravity, Laorcq turned away from the ailing alien and, seeing the approaching colossal vessel, exclaimed, “Hey! Are you planning to fly through the hull to save time, or what?”

  “You don’t know how right you are,” she replied.

  The immense liner’s silhouette filled the aero’s windshield. It vaguely resembled a blimp with hemispheric protrusions. Several miles long, it gave those who approached the impression of landing on a space station or a large asteroid.

  A synergetic group ran the length of the ship, a single cylinder large enough to swallow a ship the size of the Sirgan.

  After a few seconds, Laorcq’s gaze caught the sparkling of a force field. Mallory steered the aero in that direction.

  She seemed to have decided to amuse herself at his expense. Accelerating again, she carefully targeted the center of the energy field shielding the vessel.

  The small ship was only seven feet away when the field disappeared to let them pass, reappearing a fraction of a second later behind them. In front of them, another field appeared, and the deactivation-activation process repeated. The combination of the two energy fields functioned like a giant, super-fast airlock, allowing for docking with the cruiser in the vacuum of space as easily as in atmosphere.

  Laorcq had gone pale. While he doubted the pilot was suicidal, he had not expected the high-speed landing.

  Confidently, she braked the aero sharply and set it down between two Vohrn fighters. With a mocking smile on her lips, she remarked, “You see, when I say their airlocks are efficient…”

  At the moment, he was unmoved by Mallory’s sense of humor. Sometimes, she seemed to be delighted to be working with him again, and then a moment later he was sure she was angry with him… Prudently, he limited himself to an inaudible and noncommittal grumble and looked out the passenger side window. A row of fighters stretched to the edge of the deck. The aero’s rounded form contrasted strongly with the geometric, sharp-edged shapes of the extraterrestrial vessels.

  The doors had barely had enough time to open before four Vohrn appeared to take over Jarvik’s care. The ambassador’s convulsions had abated, but this seemed more due to general weakness than improvement. His compatriots picked him up gently and laid him on an antigrav stretcher. One of them gave Mallory an organic-looking flying lamp, and they left the deck without a word, disappearing into the immense ship.

  Laorcq eyed the giant firefly skeptically. The strange lantern projected soft, golden light and floated in the air with a barely perceptible buzz.

  “Do we really need that?” he asked.

  “Absolutely,” the pilot confirmed. “Vohrn ships are unlit, except for the sectors where they grow plants. The Vohrn rostrum is a bit like sonar: they don’t need light. You’ll see, when we’re walking along the long, dark, deserted corridors, it’s quite picturesque, like a ghost ship…”

  With these words, the firefly began to float slowly away, inviting them to follow.

  “Let’s go,” Mallory said. “It’s time to see the boss.”

  Guided by the autonomous lamp, the two humans walked through the cruiser. Laorcq realized that Mallory hadn’t exaggerated: impenetrable darkness reigned on board the ship, and they didn’t see any of the crew. The impression that they were exploring an abandoned vessel was striking.

  To make matters worse, the almost complete silence unconsciously prompted them to lower their voices. Laorcq was starting to wonder if the firefly was operating correctly when it stopped in front of a large sliding door. This opened onto a large room full of consoles of all sizes, made of a substance that alternated between biological and synthetic. One or more Vohrn sat before each of the operations panels.

  Evidently, the flying lantern had let them to the bridge. In the middle of the room, a 3D projection glowed softly, providing an abundance of welcome light.

  Laorcq recognized a map of the Aldebaran system. Intrigued, he approached. In addition to the stars, he was able to pick out an icon surrounded by a blinking circle near the planet Volda: the unknown group of ships that Mallory had found.

  A monotonous voice spoke from behind them, making them jump.

  “Captain Mallory Sajean and Commander Laorcq Adrinov. I need to clarify a number of points with you. The situation may be much worse than we thought.”

  Laorcq turned to see Hanosk. The alien stood more than seven feet tall. He had to lift his eyes to gaze at the conic growth that protruded from the top of his torso. Since they had no head, he had gotten used to considering the Vohrn rostrum as a face. At least it gave him something to focus on during their conversations. Resting next to the ultra-sensitive organ, a translator box emitted speech in the human’s language.

  Mallory and Laorcq quickly recapped the events since their arrival on Solicor. Hanosk asked for details on several points, particularly the strange black substance that the pilot had found on the ceiling in the embassy, in Jarvik’s “office.”

  The Vohrn approached one of his colleagues, an operator sitting at one of the consoles. Hanosk directed the crewmember’s use of the controls. Data appeared before them. The extraterrestrial leader leaned down to examine them, then returned to his agents. “This substance must be analyzed, but based on your description, it seems to be an interface for communicating with biogenic soldiers: the Saharj. They were created and used before my people mastered space flight. We thought they had been extinct for…” The alien paused briefly and then concluded, “About fifteen of your centuries.”

  “How could they have remained hidden for so long?” Mallory asked.

  “And why come out of the shadows here and now?” Laorcq added.

  “We don’t know their motivation. The fact that they survived until now concerns us.”

  Mallory’s brow wrinkled. “How so?”

  “All of the archives to which we have access agree: the artificial biogenic creatures were sterile and had a limited lifespan. It may be that some were kept in stasis, but it is highly doubtful that equipment from that era could still be operational. The most likely hypothesis, and the most worrisome, is that they managed to alter their own genetic code to enable reproduction.”

  XI

  SQUISH

  ONCE they had finished giving their report, Hanosk guided the two humans to one of the areas in the ship reserved for plant growth. Large Vohrn ships were built using a common architecture: technical modules dedicated to complex machinery such as engines and gravity controls alternated with sections that contained biotopes found in their home system of Cebalraï.

  Mallory and Laorcq had to cover their eyes with their hands as they crossed abruptly from shadow into bright light. Spherical projectors attached to the top of the garden module replicated the spectrum of the Vohrn sun.

  Under the intense glare lay a rocky space dotted with perennials as tall as a human. The stones were red and a thin layer of gravel of the same color covered the ground. The plants had black or dark gray bark, but their leaves appeared in every possible color and shape. Round and green, long, sharp, and blue, triangular and purple…

  After emerging from the dark and empty corridors, the humans fell silent for a moment as they followed Hanosk through the colorful landscape.

  Several dozen yards later, the alien halted and turned towards Mallory. “Do you remember the creature with whom you bonded telepathically?”

  The extraterrestrial leader was referring to something that had happened in the Procyon system. While being chased by a cyborg assassin, she had taken the time to rescue an indigenous animal from certain death. It was a newborn jufinol, a kind of fat worm with multicolored fur, a pointy muzzle, and big eyes that gave it the appearance of an abused dog. About as long as a human arm at birth, these animals grew to elephantine size in adulthood.

  “Of course,” she replied. “How is he? Did you find an adoptive mother for him?”

  Not seeing the connection between the little jufinol and the current situation, the pilot wondered where her boss was
going with this.

  “He is wasting away and no longer seems interested in contact with his kind.”

  Mallory was dismayed by this news. Without that creature and its mind-reading ability, things might have gone very badly during the mutant invasion on Kenval. Was it my fault? I should have stopped him from bonding with me and returned him as quickly as possible to adults of his own species…

  Occupied by her morose thoughts, she didn’t really hear what Hanosk had just said.

  “… and we therefore brought him on board before our departure.”

  “Excuse me?”

  The alien waved his arms, a sign of exasperation. “As I was saying, the young jufinol is here because we decided that he needed to be with you.”

  Indeed, a few steps away, she caught sight of the multicolored worm. It was curled in a ball at the foot of a bush whose black branches were covered with violet-colored berries and flowers with translucent petals.

  The animal’s fur had dulled, and it was barely moving. However, when Mallory got close enough for him to sense her presence, he coiled up and then sprang in her direction. She barely had enough time to open her arms to catch him in the air. He nestled against her; his body wrapped around the human’s torso like a safety belt and rested his muzzle on her shoulder.

  They reconnected telepathically, and she was overcome with the feeling of relief and joy. Her sensitive tattoos reacted, covering her skin with red roses.

  “I’m sorry,” the pilot murmured. “I’ll never leave you again, I promise!”

  The jufinol let out a relaxed gurgle. Unable to stay mad, he had already forgiven her.

  Laorcq watched Mallory with her strange friend. He sometimes had trouble reconciling all of the different sides of her personality. Tough, tender, mocking, quick to anger… He got a bit lost. Alrine wasn’t as passionate, but her personality provided a reassuring stability.

  These thoughts surprised him. Was he rationalizing his choice? Nonsense! he decided, before turning to the reason for their trip to the Aldebaran system.

  “Hanosk. The situation on Solicor is extremely tense. If the creatures behind all this were created for war, things are going to go downhill quickly.”

  “We cannot intervene directly at the moment,” the alien explained. “While our doctors examine Jarvik, you and the captain should rest. We’ll make a decision based on the results. Whatever happens, we cannot employ force. If the Saharj manage to overwhelm us, we’ll have to leave Aldebaran.”

  Laorcq glanced again at Mallory, who was still busy fawning over the baby jufinol. Better that she not know: the idea of forfeiting for political reasons might send her over the edge.

  He felt a vibration on his wrist: Alrine, he thought immediately. He stepped away from Mallory and the Vohrn before picking up. He smiled broadly when his lover appeared before him.

  “Alrine! How are things on Solicor?”

  The policewoman’s somewhat stern traits contorted. “Things are slowly calming down. I haven’t made much progress, though: we didn’t learn anything from the autopsy. What about you two? Did you catch Jarvik?”

  He told her about their adventures in the jungle on Reival.

  She exclaimed with envy. “Well you haven’t been bored, have you? That’s a lot different than searching for a guy we found calmly sipping a drink.”

  Their conversation shifted to more personal subjects for a few minutes. When he hung up, he remembered her remark about Vassili. Jarvik’s flight had sent that situation to the back burner.

  He turned to Mallory and Hanosk to tell them about the businessman’s reappearance. The pilot seemed pleased by the fact that Vassili was safe. On the other hand, when Laorcq mentioned his disagreeable and frankly suspicious attitude, he had the vague impression that she had stopped listening.

  On the following day, Hanosk found them in a kind of living room where they had spent a comfortable night in a pair of polymorphic chairs. The sensory organs in the extraterrestrial’s conic rostrum allowed him to see clearly despite, the ship’s absolute darkness. He located the firefly that had been provided to Mallory in a corner of the room. With a light touch, he reactivated it. The light that it gave off woke the Earthlings.

  “Hanosk. I feel like I just fell asleep,” the pilot murmured as she opened her eyes.

  With a gesture, she threw off the thin cover, which was strangely warm and felt like leather. Sitting on her lap, the jufinol shook himself and squeaked.

  The alien took Mallory’s comment at face value.

  “You slept for seven of your time units called ‘hours’,” he declared.

  “Okay, thanks for being so precise…” Now fully awake, she turned to more important issues. “What’s Jarvik’s condition?”

  “He’s unconscious, but stable.”

  Hanosk summed up the results of the tests they had conducted on the ambassador. At least one mystery had been solved: the Vohrn doctors had discovered a sort of parasite lodged near a cluster in the alien’s nervous system. The operation to remove it had been long and difficult. Tiny filaments sprouting from the strange organism had become entangled with the victim’s nerves. One thing in particular surprised the Vohrn.

  “The parasite is unquestionably Saharj. Several features correspond with the information we have about this supposedly extinct species. However, we were surprised to find that it was, in fact, an embryo.”

  Laorcq turned toward Mallory, shock evident on both of their faces. Reacting to the pilot’s emotions, the multicolored worm left her lap and wrapped itself around one of her arms. As she rose from the comfortable chair, she made sure it had grabbed on tight.

  “They’re using their own children? That’s disgusting!”

  The meaning of her words escaped the alien. He bent his knees, which folded in the opposite direction from humans, in order to come closer to her.

  “This confirms our theory that the Saharj managed to modify their genetic code to allow themselves to reproduce. We have evidence that they managed to incorporate parts of another species’ genome into their own. Through cross-verification, we determined that the genes in question came from a telepathic species.”

  She understood what this implied. “Shit! Jazz wasn’t wrong when he referred to remote control.”

  Rising in turn, Laorcq remained silent. He rubbed his chin, his fingers making a rasping noise against his three-day beard. Mallory knew him well enough to know that this tic indicated deep thought. He looked at her, then lingered over the jufinol. Finally, he proposed an idea.

  “Could your telepathic friend help us find the Saharjs’ victims?”

  “An interesting possibility, which one of my scientists also mentioned,” Hanosk commented. “You’re going back to Solicor, and you’re going to request a meeting with one of the Gibrals whom we suspect of being parasitized. That way, you can verify the hypothesis.”

  Having nothing to add, the tall, scaly-skinned alien left the humans. Guided as usual by the biomechanical firefly, they returned to the flight deck where Mallory’s aeroglider was parked.

  She was pleased to discover that the Vohrn had taken the opportunity to inspect and add to their supply of useful tools: a briefcase containing an AI-run medical automaton, an assortment of weapons and ammunition and, most importantly, small casks containing food for the jufinol.

  When they got into the aero, the multicolored worm left Mallory’s arms and settled onto the console between the two front seats. As soon as the on-board navcom displayed the authorization for takeoff, the pilot took hold of the wheel.

  She maneuvered the ship between the Vohrn fighters and accelerated in the direction of the double force field separating the deck from the void of space. Three hours later, they arrived at the gigantic ring-shaped station surrounding Solicor and slipped into the Sirgan’s hold.

  Leaving Laorcq to unpack the new toys the Vohrn had provided, Mallory went straight to the cockpit. She enjoyed the sound of her heavy boots ringing against the metallic grill on
the corridor’s floor. The sound meant she was home. The jufinol wrapped around her left arm reacted to her positive feeling by emitting a light purr. Arriving at the cockpit, she was welcomed by the familiar voice of the Sirgan’s Natural Intelligence.

  “So? How was the Urkein’Naak?

  Mallory wondered if she had heard correctly. “Huh?”

  “The Urkein’Naak!” Jazz insisted. The Vohrn cruiser. You spent twenty-four hours on-board and you don’t know her name?”

  Mallory dismissed the remark with a shrug. “We were otherwise occupied… What does the name mean, anyway?”

  “Skyburner… Those Vohrn are quite poetic!”

  Jazz seemed to notice the jufinol’s presence. In a coyly exasperated tone, he added: “He’s back? Where’d you find him? Hanosk, I bet. He could have brought us something different.”

  “Come on, he was dying. And, contrary to what you think, he may be very useful to us.”

  “Oh yeah? We’ll see. Hey, on that note, what’s his name?”

  Mallory felt embarrassed. How had she forgotten to ask about that “detail”? Although… Since they could communicate telepathically, it wasn’t really necessary.

  Of course, Jazz jumped at the chance to tease her. “No name? He’s the anonymous worm? What a nice adoptive mother… Hey I know! I’ll give him a name!” He paused as if he were thinking, then said, “I propose a Vohrn name: Staq’Nolk!”

  Knowing Jazz’s dicey sense of humor, Mallory asked him to translate it into a human language.

  “Hmmm…” he hesitated. “Furry Feather Duster?”

  Catching the meaning of the word through the pilot’s mind, the jufinol bleated in protest.

  Jazz complained, sounding offended. “Okay! If we can’t joke around without getting ‘squeaks’ and ‘squishes’… Hey! Wait a minute! Why don’t we call him Squish?”

  “A perfect name!” Torg, who had just arrived in the Sirgan’s cockpit, said approvingly.

  Mallory put a hand to her forehead and sighed. That’s that. He’s stuck with that idiotic nickname now…