Redemption Song

by Henry A. Burns

  If the Polig-Grug were bug-lizards, then the Zaski could best be described as mushroom-sharks. They had wide flaring heads that resembled a mushroom cap. Instead of distinct eyes, there was a dark band that stretched along a third of the mushroom cap. The creatures had no visible nose or any form of breathing system, and dominating the “head” was a wide sharklike mouth. Each Zaski had two tentacle-like arms that carried what was obviously a weapon. There were no visible legs; instead, the creatures advanced like a snail on a rubbery single foot. In color, the Zaski were a mottled gray.

  “Spirits, but they’re ugly,” Cool Evening Breeze chirped in disgust.

  “Centurions, Iron Flower!” barked Shadowed Heart. With a smoothness that spoke of long hours of practice, the Alsoo Centurions suddenly raised their spears and presented the oncoming Zaski with three columns that bristled with sharp points.

  “Nice move,” Hendriks muttered in appreciation.

  The Zaski stopped and started firing their weapons. Apparently they used projectile weapons, but the metal slugs bounced off the shields of the centurions. The shields stopped the bullets, and the sharp points of the Alsoo spears promised pain and death. The Zaski tested the defense anyway as they suddenly extruded extra tentacles—tentacles that extended toward the Alsoo, tentacles that began to probe for weaknesses in the Alsoo’s defense.

  “Bird Squad, battle maces!” ordered Cool Evening Breeze. “Advance.”

  “Ape Squad, battle maces,” echoed Hendriks. “Advance.”

  “Sidewinders, Iron Flower. Advance,” ordered Shadowed Heart.

  The three squads advanced slowly and deliberately. The projectile weapons may have been useless, but the Zaski were neither helpless nor cowardly. They met the alliance’s advance with their own. The shields could stop a bullet, but the Zaski could and did use their tentacles as bludgeons that stopped the advance.

  “Ugly and strong,” Cool Evening Breeze grumbled. “And spirits weep, what are they made of?” she snarled. She had reason for her frustration. Blows from her mace that would have killed a Polig-Grug were shrugged off. The combatants were in a stalemate.

  Shadowed Heart was worried. His Alsoo centurions were holding their own, but, like the humans and Rynn, they were no longer advancing. His eyes narrowed as something fought for his attention. The humans and Rynn were using their battle maces, but the Zaski were shrugging off the blows; meanwhile, his Alsoo centurions were using spears, which were successfully keeping the Zaski at bay. His eyes widened.

  “Centurions, slow advance,” he ordered. “On my count,” he said. “One.” The Alsoo warbled and side-winded forward one body length. The Zaski resisted for a moment and then retreated. “Two.” The Alsoo moved forward another body length. Again the Zaski retreated.

  Shadowed Heart quickly tapped his Torque. “Captain Breeze. Captain Hendriks. The Zaski don’t like getting punctured.”

  “Ape Squad,” barked Hendriks. “KA-BARs out.”

  “You heard the man, Bird Squad,” Cool Evening Breeze shouted. “KA-BARs.”

  In moments, the humans and Rynn in Ape and Bird Squad exchanged their maces for their fighting knives. It quickly became apparent that the Zaski had good reason for avoiding sharp objects, as a large enough puncture caused the mobile mushrooms to start “leaking” uncontrollably. Zaski could be seen retreating and frantically applying adhesive patches. Even after being patched, the wounded Zaski would not return to the battle.

  A sudden thrumming filled the air. “Vibrations indicate language,” reported the Torques. “Best guess translation: desist, stop, cease.”

  “Torque, translate: throw down your weapons,” snapped Cool Evening Breeze. “I will start counting. If you have not thrown down your weapons when I get to ten, you will be destroyed.” The translation was barely out of her mouth when the Zaski started divesting themselves of their weapons.

  “Wusses,” Hendriks said in derision.

  “I am disgusted,” Cool Evening Breeze replied. “And ashamed,” she said in self-reproach. “All this time we were afraid … for nothing.”

  “I wouldn’t say nothing, Breeze,” Hendriks disagreed. “Even humans would think twice about taking on a four-foot-tall ambulatory mushroom,” he said. “With teeth.” He put a hand on Cool Evening Breeze’s shoulder. “And if the kid hadn’t figured out their weakness, we’d still be fighting them.”

  There was another thrumming. “Translate,” ordered Cool Evening Breeze.

  “What do you want?” came the translation.

  “We want you to stop attacking our ships and eating our people,” snapped Cool Evening Breeze. “We are not food.”

  “You are animals,” came the translated reply. “Animals are food.”

  “We eat mushrooms,” Hendriks replied. “Especially with butter and garlic.” He grinned mirthlessly. “So if you don’t want to end up as a menu item, you will look elsewhere for your meals.” He put his hand on Cool Evening Breeze’s shoulder. “Rynn are a bit squeamish about eating something that talks back, but humans are not.” He shrugged. “I’m not sure about the Alsoo.”

  “Mushroom/they eat/they we,” an Alsoo broke in. “Hungry/we this time.”

  “You’ll have to forgive our Alsoo friends,” Hendriks said. “They have a very high metabolism.” He smiled at the amused warble that greeted his comment. “Here’s the deal. You don’t eat us, we won’t eat you,” he said. “You will not attack our ships. You will not impede our ships’ progress. Your ships will be inspected to ensure that no other sentient creatures are being exploited as a food source.”

  “We must eat,” the translation came back. “Our population is large; our food production does not keep up.”

  “Ooh, now that sounds like an opening,” Cool Evening Breeze chittered. “We may have a solution,” she said to the Zaski. She chirped, and an image of a Polig-Grug unity appeared. “There are about 80 billion of these creatures,” she said. “They’re tough and mean, but if you want to try eating them, be our guests,” she said. “We’ll even give you the coordinates.”

  An hour later, the boarding party was back on the Nieth, and the Nieth itself was heading home. “All in all, it was a pretty easy operation,” Captain Hendriks was reporting to Captain Kasumi. “No one died, and injuries were light—a couple broken arms and a large assortment of bruises—and we vacuumed their database,” he reported in satisfaction. “So, if they break the agreement, we know where they live.”

  “And we made sure they know we know,” Cool Evening Breeze added. “Spirits, but I’m still disgusted,” she chirped. “And if it wasn’t for you humans, we’d still be running from them.”

  “Maybe, maybe not,” David Eisenstadt replied. “The Rynn have always been brave. You just didn’t know it,” he said. “I think you would have eventually figured that out on your own.”

  “You have more faith in my people than I do, Commander,” Cool Evening Breeze replied.

  “That’s what friends are for,” the commander replied. “Now get out of here,” he ordered. “And send in the Terrible Three.”

  Eisenstadt and Kasumi watched their two top soldiers leave the conference room with proud smiles—smiles that widened when Shadowed Heart, Emily, and Morning Stars Fade entered. The three lined up in front of Eisenstadt and Kasumi and waited alertly. “Give me your honest assessment of how the Alsoo performed,” Kasumi instructed.

  The three looked at each other. “Go ahead, Shadowed Heart,” Emily said. Morning Stars Fade nodded.

  Shadowed Heart took a step forward. “They held up their end of the job,” he said. “Better than I expected. Heck, better than I think they expected.” Kasumi nodded and beckoned Shadowed Heart to continue. “When I left them in their quarters, they were doing two things I never saw them do before: bragging and telling each other jokes.”

  “Dirty jokes,” Emily amended.

  Shadowed Hear
t nodded. “One other thing, Captain,” he said. “They haven’t said anything, but their mood is different. It’s hard to explain, but …” He paused as he tried to organize his thoughts. “I was listening to Cobra, and he said something interesting. He’s Little Bit’s dad, you know.”

  “Little Bit?” questioned Kasumi.

  Shadowed Heart blushed. “First-Daughter-Second-Born. I call her Little Bit,” he explained. “Anyway, he was talking about Little … his daughter and … he was making plans for her, Captain. You should have heard him. It was like he had won the lottery, and … it’s hard to explain.”

  “I think you just did a fine job of explaining,” Kasumi disagreed. “Well done, Ensign.” She smiled. “Well done, all of you.” She briefly covered her eyes. “The truth of what you are is like the sun; it blinds as well as illuminates. And sometimes it shines a light where no light has been before.” She smiled warmly. “Now get out of here. I have work to do.”

  “Spirits and ancestors, but it is good to be home,” Shadowed Heart said as he exited the shuttle. The Nieth had returned to Earth the previous day, but it had been nearly twenty-four hours before they were able to get a shuttle ride to the colony. They might have been able to go earlier, but Shadowed Heart, to his own surprise, had insisted that his Alsoo centurions go first. He took a deep breath. “The air on the Nieth may be filtered and clean, but it sure doesn’t smell like this.” He turned at Emily’s giggle. “What?”

  “Just wondering who you are and what you have done with Shadowed Heart,” she said with a grin. “And how do we keep him from coming back?” she added with another giggle.

  Shadowed Heart blushed. “Yeah, well …” he began. He was interrupted by a high-pitched warble. He turned to see a tiny feathered Alsoo hatchling heading toward him as fast as her little snakelike body could propel her. “Little Bit!” he exclaimed happily. The next thing Shadowed Heart knew, there was a foot-long Alsoo hatchling curled contentedly around his neck. “You’ve grown!” Shadowed Heart exclaimed. He rubbed the little Alsoo’s head. “Have you been a good girl?” he asked. The Alsoo hatchling just warbled.

  “I think you’re going to have to wait another year or so before she can answer,” Emily said. She walked over and caressed the little Alsoo. “As pretty as ever,” she cooed. “You really should not run off without your parents,” she scolded the hatchling.

  “And here they come now,” said Morning Stars Fade. He pointed to where two adult Alsoo and a group of five hatchlings were approaching. One adult Alsoo sported a tattoo on his chest. “Greetings, Centurion Cobra,” he said respectfully. “Greetings, Cobra family.”

  “Greetings, Centurion Split-Tail Mor’ing Sta’ Fa/you,” replied the Alsoo warrior. “Greetings, Centurion Split-Tail Em’ly Fee/you.” He covered his eyes. “Greeting Protector/you.” He wrapped the end of his tail around the Alsoo female with him. “Female/she mate/me she,” he said in introduction. “Question have/me.”

  “Question?” Shadowed Heart asked. He smiled. “A centurion does not need permission to ask questions.”

  The Alsoo waved his hand in acknowledgement. “Name/new/ you Cobra/me,” he said. “Give/you mate/my name/new question.”

  Shadowed Heart blinked. “Did he just ask me to give his mate a name?” he whispered.

  “That’s what I heard,” Emily replied in the same hushed voice. “Spirits, but this is new.” Her voice was filled with awe.

  Shadowed Heart nodded slowly. He looked at the Alsoo female for a long moment and then knelt down in front of her. He tapped his head. “Who answers when you speak to yourself?”

  The Alsoo female ruffled her feathers but remained silent. Shadowed Heart was about to try asking the question differently when the Alsoo female leaned forward and started to draw something in the dirt in front of her. Shadowed Heart tilted his head and tried to guess what was being drawn. “A flower?” he said. “No, that’s … that’s the sun, isn’t it?” The Alsoo female waved a hand and then drew a line upwards. “Sunrise?”

  “That’s a beautiful name,” Emily said quietly.

  Shadowed Heart nodded. He slowly reached out and placed his hand over the female’s head. “A beautiful name for a beautiful woman,” he said. “Greetings, Sunrise.”

  The Alsoo female ducked her head behind Cobra’s body. “Greetings, Protector,” she said in a hushed voice. “This time all time Sunrise/me be,” she declared shyly.

  “Now and forever, you are Sunrise,” agreed Shadowed Heart.

  “Now and forever,” Emily and Morning Stars Fade repeated. All three covered their eyes briefly. The two Alsoo adults repeated the gesture and started to move away.

  Sunrise warbled, and the hatchling around Shadowed Heart’s neck warbled back. Little Bit patted Shadowed Heart’s face and then slithered down his body. With a lot of backward looks, the hatchling followed her parents.

  “We must tell the Teacher,” Morning Stars Fade said. He was about to say something more and stopped. “Core Brother?”

  “I was Jamal once,” he said and wiped at his eyes. “My parents gave me that name.” He looked at the retreating Alsoo. “Every time I thought of that name, I would remember,” he said. “It hurt.” Both Morning Stars Fade and Emily nodded in understanding but remained silent. “I hope Raindrops in a Tide Pool will understand.”

  “Compromise, Core Brother, and honor both,” Morning Stars Fade suggested gently. “I think Jamal Shadowed Heart is a good name,” he said. Jamal nodded. “Let’s go to the cabin, Core Brother, and tell the Teacher …” He paused and then smiled sympathetically. “Everything.”

  The princess approached the Temple of Light. Unlike the previous times she had been there, the old monk was at the bottom of the steps and waiting for her. The princess covered her eyes. “Forgive me for not visiting sooner, Grandmother,” she said contritely.

  The old monk smiled. “You apologize when you are not even sure this is real?” she said in amusement.

  “Knowing something and believing something are two separate things, Grandmother,” the princess replied. “And while you have taught me that belief may be a trap, that does not mean I should not believe in anything,” she said. “I do not know if this is real, and I may never truly know, but every part of me wishes to believe it is.” She looked down. “Not because I fear death, but because I would rather believe I am talking to a wise counselor and friend than to believe I am speaking to myself.”

  The old monk laughed. “Don’t you trust your own counsel?” she teased.

  “In some things, but I am still young and have much to learn,” the princess replied. “The Teacher would scold me for refusing to acknowledge that.”

  “He has taught you much, and there is more you must learn,” the old monk replied. “But you must accept that there will not be enough time for him to teach all that he knows.”

  The princess bowed her head. “There are some things that are difficult to accept, but none more so than that,” she said. “Will it be soon?” she asked in a whisper.

  “Time is meaningless to one such as I,” the old monk replied. “Time is an illusion that only the dead do not share.” She lifted the princess’s chin with one finger. “Take heart in this one truth: he was old and bitter and believed he was beyond redemption,” she said gently. “You not only showed him that redemption was possible, but you put his feet on the path to being redeemed.”

  The old monk looked into the princess’s eyes. “I am Mei Lin Blunt. How or why I am here I do not know, nor do I care. What I do care about is that the man you call Teacher has learned how to care—no, to love—again, and that is because of you.” She placed a hand on the princess’s head. “His time is soon, but not yet,” she said. “And when he does pass, sing for him.”

  “Every night, Grandmother,” the princess promised with tear-filled eyes. “I promise.”

  Kasumi woke with a start. “Spirits,” sh
e whispered.

  “The dream?” Mel asked sleepily.

  “Yes,” Kasumi replied in a hushed voice.

  “Grandfather is going to die soon, isn’t he?” Mel asked quietly.

  Kasumi chuckled sadly. “And humans continue to insist they do not read minds,” she said. “Yes.”

  “I had the feeling that would be the case,” Mel said. “How soon?”

  “Grandmother said it was soon but not yet,” Kasumi replied. “I had the feeling that he is supposed to do something first.”

  YEAR 18

  Kasumi Blunt of the Forest Cabin Clan, captain of the Nieth, leader of those Rynn who were part of the colony on Earth, Rynn ambassador to Earth, and Rynn ambassador to the Alsoo, sighed as she reviewed yet another report. “When Grandmother said the way would be difficult, I didn’t think she meant paperwork,” Kasumi grumbled. She grimaced when her muttered comment was met with laughter. “It wouldn’t be so bad if most of these documents were useful.” She sat back. “But most of them are just petty nonsense.”

  She lifted a sheet. “Take this one, for example,” she said. “It’s from Senator Sawyer.” She smiled sourly as the majority of those in the room groaned. “Demanding, yet again, that we allow evangelist missionaries into the colony.”

  “The man is incompetent,” Morning Mist replied. “He knows that no missionaries from any group are allowed in the colony. He knows, because I told him that personally.”

  “Which he claims is a lie, since Teacher Germy is allowed in the colony,” Kasumi replied in annoyance. She read from the document: ‘ … the presence of the charlatan, Jeremy Blunt, who professes and promotes belief in the false doctrine of Ancestors and Spirits, has been allowed free access to the childlike Alsoo and is condemning their souls to the fires. Common decency requires that they be exposed to the TRUTH—’ he capitalized it ‘before it is too late.’”