Shadowed Heart barked a short, sad laugh. “Maybe, sir, but I would give anything to hear my mother’s voice, even if it wasn’t real.”
“Brandon said the same thing,” Jeremy replied. “Morning Stars Fade, Emily, we have training to do,” he barked. He turned to Shadowed Heart. “You’re welcome to join us.”
“I’d like that … Teacher,” Shadowed Heart replied.
“My god, how does he do it?” complained Shadowed Heart. “I’m exhausted, and he looks like he can go on for another hour.” He, Emily, and Morning Stars Fade had been training nonstop for almost three hours. The old man may have been sympathetic and understanding before the training started, but that sympathy and understanding apparently was unimportant where training was concerned. “The man is worse than the slave master.”
“Shadowed Heart, twenty roundhouse kicks against the wooden dummy,” barked Jeremy.
Shadowed Heart groaned, went over to the dummy, and started kicking. Emily walked over to the old man. “Thank you, Teacher,” she said. “He’s almost cheerful.” Jeremy snorted in response. She pursed her lips. “I should start breakfast.”
“Shadowed Heart will make breakfast,” Jeremy said firmly. “Every day for the rest of the week.” He smiled. “And the bathroom needs cleaning.”
“You’re a hard man, Teacher,” Emily said with an amused smile. “Thank you.”
“And tell him to call Raindrops in a Tide Pool,” grunted Jeremy. “He worries.”
“Yes, Teacher,” Emily replied, and then she leaned over and kissed the old man on the cheek. “Thank you,” she said again. Then Emily turned. “Shadowed Heart, you’re making breakfast,” she ordered loudly. “Move it.”
“Better get going, Core Brother,” Morning Stars Fade said cheerfully. “I think our core sister is in a mood.” He shuddered theatrically.
Despite everything, Shadowed Heart had to smile. “I guess I better make breakfast,” he said and, with a quick bow to Jeremy, headed back to the cabin.
“Spirits and ancestors,” Morning Stars Fade breathed. “He smiled.”
“Morning Stars Fade, go with him,” ordered Jeremy. “I doubt he knows how to cook.”
The week went quickly for Shadowed Heart. Every morning, they’d wake before dawn and spend the next two or three hours training in the dao chung—after which Shadowed Heart would make breakfast. The rest of the day was spent doing chores around the cabin, doing homework (Shadowed Heart was working on his GED), and taking long walks. Three times during the week, the Alsoo came to train, and Jeremy banished the three young adults from the cabin. They’d usually borrow Jeremy’s truck and head over to the colony.
It was nighttime that was difficult for Shadowed Heart. Emily and Morning Stars Fade insisted they sleep together, with Shadowed Heart sleeping in the middle. He wouldn’t have minded sleeping with Emily—she was beautiful and had a wicked sense of humor that would somehow get through Shadowed Heart’s defenses and, while he still wouldn’t laugh, get him to smile. She was obviously interested in him, but she would always rebuff attempts to get her alone.
“Come on, Emily,” he pleaded near the end of the week. “I know you like me. You keep telling me you like me. So why?”
“And I keep telling you, cores sleep together, and that includes sex,” Emily returned. “Me and Morning Stars Fade are a package deal.”
“But I’m not gay,” complained Shadowed Heart.
“Neither is Morning Stars Fade,” returned Emily. “That term is meaningless to a Rynn,” she pointed out. “Let me ask you something: do you like Morning Stars Fade?”
“Well, yeah,” Shadowed Heart replied slowly.
“Do you think he’d back you up in a fight?” she asked. “Or do you think he’d just let you get your ass handed to you?”
“I don’t know,” complained Shadowed Heart. “I mean, I think he’d back me up, but …”
“You know damn well he would,” Emily interrupted. “Just as he knows damn well you’d back him up,” she said. “And you do know that, don’t you?” She walked over and poked Shadowed Heart in the chest. “Don’t you?” She waited until Shadowed Heart nodded. “Exactly,” she said. “He’s probably the one person on this whole planet who you can trust completely,” she said. “So trust him, goddammit.” Without another word, she spun around and walked away.
Shadowed Heart sat on the steps of the cabin and watched the sun set. He sensed more than saw someone sit down next to him. “Hey, Morning Stars Fade,” he said in greeting without turning his head.
“I’m always amazed when humans do that,” Morning Stars Fade said. “And yet you all claim you don’t read minds.” He chittered. “Teacher Jeremy says it’s just that humans are naturally paranoid.”
“He’s probably right,” agreed Shadowed Heart. “Mind if I ask you a personal question?”
“Shadowed Heart, who I wish to call Core Brother, you may ask me anything you wish,” Morning Stars Fade replied. “If the question is what I think it is, then the answer is yes.”
“And you think humans read minds?” Shadowed Heart said in dry amusement. “Don’t tell Emily, but I’ve only had sex a couple times,” he said after a long silence.
“I don’t know why you don’t want Emily to know that, but if that is your wish, she won’t hear it from me,” Morning Stars Fade replied. He looked at Shadowed Heart’s profile. “Rynn are raised in groups—what you call crèches,” he said. “We’re used to sleeping with other people. Male and female.” His crest rose slightly. “By the time we become fully mature, we’ve probably already had several sex partners of both sexes.”
Shadowed Heart turned. “How do you prevent having babies and stuff?”
Morning Stars Fade pointed to his left wrist. “I got my birth control implant just before puberty,” he said. “And Rynn are given a basic sex training class about the same time.” He added, “Humans are plagued with sexually transmitted diseases. Rynn are not.” Morning Stars Fade smiled slightly. “Mainly because sex isn’t hidden.” His smile became proud. “And in those rare instances when there is something wrong, we deal with it immediately, honestly, and without being shamed.”
Shadowed Heart nodded in response.
“I want to tell you something,” Morning Stars Fade said. “As part of my training with the Teacher, he asks me to look at someone and tell him what their face is saying.”
“Neat trick,” agreed Shadowed Heart.
“It would be if I could actually do it,” Morning Stars Fade said. “Half the time when I think someone is angry or pensive, they usually end up just having indigestion.” Morning Stars Fade looked at Shadowed Heart. “Then Teacher asked me to look at you.” He put a hand on Shadowed Heart’s shoulder. “And all I could see was someone who needed … me.” His crest flattened. “It wasn’t sex or attraction, it was this odd certainty that you and I were destined to be friends.” His crest rose to a more neutral position. “When I discussed it with Teacher, he told me something strange. He said that success was uncertain, but that if somehow I could succeed in getting through those walls you’ve put up, then together we’d move planets.”
“Weird,” Shadowed Heart said. “Move planets, huh?” He narrowed his eyes. “Just you and me, or you and me and Emily?”
Morning Stars Fade smiled. “One omits Emily from one’s calculations to one’s peril,” he said. “As you should know.”
Shadowed Heart rubbed his jaw. “Yeah, no kidding,” he said. “That girl has a heck of a punch.” He sighed. “I dunno. I mean, I like you. You’ve been … heck, you’ve been a better friend than I’ve ever had.” He paused. “Well, you and Emily,” he chuckled. “Funny to think of a white girl as a friend,” he said. “The only white girls I saw were the daughters of the slave owners, and they were just as bad as their parents.”
“Emily is Emily,” Morning Stars Fade replied. He stood. “I do
n’t know about you, Core Brother, but I’m getting hungry.” He extended a hand to Shadowed Heart. When Shadowed Heart took it, he pulled the human to his feet. “I think it would be most difficult to move planets on an empty stomach.”
YEAR 13
46
BATTLE LINES
“This is DefSat Ten. We have an incursion,” a cool and professional voice reported. “Identity confirmed as Polig-Grug.” There was a pause. “DefSat Fifteen and Sedona station are responding.”
“On screen,” ordered David Eisenstadt. Despite the fact that everyone on the bridge, and anyone else with a Torque, could see the battle, Eisenstadt still preferred to see it on the large monitor in the command center.
“DefSat Ten, please route all sensor data to my station,” Morning Mist said crisply. She watched as the data started running in front of her eyes. “Negative on Alsoo bio signs. Negative on Rynn bio signs. Negative on any non-Polig-Grug bio signs altogether.”
“That’s the third incursion without any bio signs other than Polig-Grug,” Captain Kasumi said in thoughtful tones. “Meadow Flower, your last report mentioned some instability at the border points. Is it possible that the Polig-Grug are … weakening?”
“With a population in excess of eighty billion, weakening is relative,” Meadow Flower replied. “The total number of Polig-Grug that we’ve eradicated over the past three years is not even a thousandth of a percent of their total population.” Her crest flicked. “However, something is certainly happening,” she chirped, and the megastructure that was the Polig-Grug home world—or rather, one of them—was displayed. Approximately a third was outlined in blue. “That blue line represents the border separating the Polig-Grug from whatever is keeping them at bay.” She chirped again, and a second outline, this one in red, appeared. Most of the outlines overlapped, but some sections showed that the area controlled by the unknowns had grown. “The Polig-Grug have lost approximately 5 percent of their territory over the past year.”
“They’re starving,” said a gravelly voice.
“Grandfather?” Kasumi questioned.
Jeremy Blunt sat back in his chair. “Meadow Flower, have there been any attacks on Nest?”
“No, Teacher,” Meadow Flower replied. “And with the new Hunter-Killer ships protecting our fleets, the number of fatalities has plummeted.” Her crest snapped open. “Of course!” she exclaimed. “They still don’t know where Nest is. The Alsoo have become scarce or are extinct, and humans have been successful in keeping the Polig-Grug from establishing a colony here on Earth.” Her crest fluttered excitedly. “I believe Teacher may be correct,” she said. “The Polig-Grug predate on intelligent, often technological species. Unchecked, they will eventually consume an entire species.” She smiled. “But what if they are not unchecked?”
“We keep assuming we’re the only players in this conflict,” Jeremy pointed out.
“Yes, Teacher,” Meadow Flower agreed excitedly. “Even though we know we are not,” she said. “We keep forgetting about the Zaski and the Graz’to.” The outlines on the image of the Polig-Grug megastructure blinked several times. “And whatever is inside those boundaries.”
“I am not going to recommend an alliance with the Zaski,” Kasumi said in disgust.
“No need, Granddaughter,” Jeremy said. “All you really have to do is make Earth and Nest … unappetizing.”
“If we’re lucky, the Zaski and the Polig-Grug will cancel each other out,” Eisenstadt said in approval. “We need to send a ship out to contact the Zaski and convince them to seek easier prey.” He smiled. “When was the last time you took the Nieth out … Captain?”
“Take the Alsoo warriors with you,” Jeremy said.
“We’ll take Ape and Bird Squads as well,” Eisenstadt said.
“I’d like to go as well, Commander,” Meadow Flower volunteered. “We’ll be passing close to the Polig-Grug home system, and I may be able to insert a few extra probes.”
“It will be dangerous, Meadow Flower,” cautioned the commander.
“I think she should go,” Jeremy said. “And take those three kids who have been camping in my cabin with you.”
47
HATCHLINGS
“What’s going on?” Shadowed Heart asked a passing Rynn. He, Morning Stars Fade, and Emily had returned to the colony only to find themselves in the middle of some event. Most of the colony was decorated with pink and blue streamers and banners, and a military band was playing “Ode to Joy.” It looked like a child’s birthday party on steroids.
“The Alsoo eggs have hatched,” the Rynn male said in excitement. “The mothers are bringing the hatchlings out of the burrow for the first time.”
“Oh my god, we have to see this,” Emily said in excitement. “Do you know how many eggs hatched?”
“No, but I hope it’s a lot,” the Rynn said. “Spirits weep, but they could use something to celebrate.”
Emily, Morning Stars Fade, and Shadowed Heart all covered their eyes briefly in response. The three started running toward the citadel. They made it just as a roar erupted from the surrounding crowd. They pushed their way to the front. The crowd was kept a good distance from the citadel by the presence of a good number of Alsoo warriors. By their taller posture, it was obvious these were the warriors trained by Jeremy Blunt. The three friends even recognized a few of them.
“Greetings, Warrior Third-Son-Third-Born/you,” Morning Stars Fade voice translated by his Torque into Alsoo. “This time/good question.”
The warrior waved his free hand in the Alsoo equivalent of a nod. “This time/good truth/oath.” He slapped his chest. “Women/they speak big/big number hatchling. Big/big strong hatchling.” The Alsoo warrior rose higher. “Hatchlings/they see tall/me. See tall/they be.”
Morning Stars Fade, Emily, and Shadowed Heart all nodded in understanding. “Tall/be you, warrior,” Shadowed Heart said. “Hatchling proud/they be.”
“Truth/oath,” Morning Stars Fade and Emily said, and the three of them slapped their chests. The Alsoo warrior rose another centimeter. Morning Stars Fade, Emily, and Shadowed Heart looked around with growing hopeful anticipation—an emotion apparently shared by everyone else currently present in the colony.
Even the colony’s chief scientist, Joseph Franklin, and his core were present. Joseph Franklin’s floating mobility suit was piloted, as usual, by his Alsoo associate, Second-Daughter-Fifth-Born. The Alsoo neuter sat on Franklin’s shoulder with her tail wrapped loosely around his neck, one stubby-three fingered hand playing over the suit’s control panel, the other waving animatedly toward the citadel.
“Here they come,” someone squealed excitedly.
Morning Stars Fade, Emily, and Shadowed Heart all looked toward the citadel. An Alsoo female was at the top of the ramp, and they could see a cluster of fluffy down-covered hatchlings huddled against her lower body. She started wriggling down the ramp, herding her hatchlings before her. Another female appeared at the top before the first had completed her trek. And then it seemed as if there was a river of females and hatchlings flowing down the ramp. The Alsoo started to warble.
“How many?” Emily demanded. “Someone get a count.”
“I’m pretty sure there are a large number of people doing just that, Em,” Shadowed Heart said. “But it’s gotta be hundreds.” A shadow caught his attention, and he looked up. “Oh shit,” he exclaimed. He pointed. “Hawks,” he shouted. He started running toward the swarming Alsoo hatchlings. Alsoo warriors started warbling in anger and fear.
Shadowed Heart looked over his shoulder and saw the hawk, and his mind’s eye traced the swooping bird’s path. One hatchling had apparently wandered away from the group and stood alone. The hatchling was looking at the sky with a look of terror on its tiny face. Shadowed Heart shifted his path and sped up as much as possible.
Franklin looked up at the shout. “Hawks? Where?” He looked towa
rd the sky and quickly saw the circling birds. He saw where Shadowed Heart was running and came to the same conclusion. He tapped his Torque. “This is Joseph Franklin. On my authority, raise colony shields. Now!” he snapped. “There are hungry hawks circling.”
Whether his warning came in time or not did not matter, as one hawk was already below the shield and was headed directly toward the hatchling, claws extended and ready. Those claws impacted on the back of the human who was suddenly between the hawk and its prey. Shadowed Heart yelped in pain, and the hawk screeched angrily and leaped to the sky, only to be transfixed by an Alsoo spear. The dead hawk crashed to the ground just a few feet from Shadowed Heart.
For a moment, there was complete silence over the colony. The moment shattered into screams, shouts, chitters, and warbles. Emily and Morning Stars Fade raced to the bent-over form of Shadowed Heart. “Core Brother,” Morning Stars Fade yelled in worry.
When they reached Shadowed Heart, the back of his jacket was torn completely through, and there was blood oozing from deep scratches that could be seen through the wide rents. Morning Stars Fade tapped his Torque. “Medic!” he requested urgently as he knelt down. “Core Brother?” he said to Shadowed Heart. “Core Brother?” he repeated more urgently when there was no answer.
Finally, Shadowed Heart groaned. “I’m … okay,” he said. He groaned again as he sat up, his hands cupped together. He raised his hands and slowly opened them. A tiny Alsoo hatchling was nestled in his palm.
“Are you okay?” he said to the hatchling. The hatchling rose up partly and warbled at him. “The Torque’s not translating,” he said in worry.
“That’s because it’s a baby,” Emily said softly. “You saved it,” she breathed. “Spirits and ancestors, you saved it.” She turned to see a half dozen of Jeremy’s specially trained warriors sidling over with their spears raised. “It’s okay … he w …” She stopped as one warrior raised his spear sharply.
Redemption Song Page 36