Merkiaari Wars: 01 - Hard Duty (30 page)

“
Never!
” Tei’Varyk said horrified at the idea. “My mate and I wish always to serve in space. It’s where we belong.”

Good answer. It was something Colgan would have said himself if asked that question. Space was his home, exploration his life and goal. He supposed he would be given another ship someday—a heavy cruiser like Tei’Varyk probably, but when that day came, he wanted to be able to say he had made the most of his time aboard
Canada
. This mission would burn brightly in his memory that was for sure.

“Tei’Colgan,” Kajetan said. “You may proceed with your launch.”

“I thank you, Kajetan, elders,” Colgan said and bowed. The screen cleared and returned to showing the heavies hanging in space. “Download the logs please, Mark.”

“Aye, sir, downloading… download complete.”

“Very good,” he said and was about to give the next order, but he hesitated and turned to Tei’Varyk. “Would you give the order for the elders, Tei?”

“Honoured,” Tei’Varyk said and turned to Lieutenant Ricks. “Download the elders’ message to your drone
please, Mark
,” he said saying the last two words in English. Already his grasp of English was improving.

“Aye, sir, downloading… download complete.”

“Set drive to eighty percent,” Colgan said. “Coordinates: Alliance HQ.”

“Aye, sir, drone programmed. Destination: Alliance HQ.”

“Give the launch order please, Tei.”

Tei’Varyk flicked his ears in acknowledgement. “I hear. Launch the drone.”

“Aye, sir, launching. Drone away… drone has entered fold space, sirs,” Lieutenant Ricks said.

“Very good,” Colgan said at the same time as Tei’Varyk’s, “I hear.”

They smiled at each other. A Human smile, reflected against a Shan’s ear-twitching jaw-dropping grin.

“Well done everyone,” Colgan said to his crew. “Nothing can go wrong now.”

The bridge crew cheered.

* * *

Zuleika spaceport, Child of Harmony

James stood upon the taxiway and breathed deeply. The chill air was full of alien scents that delighted his senses. After so long aboard ship walking under the open sky was a relief and a pleasure. The breeze picked up and he faced into it. He could smell the ocean, but could not see it from here even though it was only a few short kilometres from the port; he had crossed the coast on his approach.

“It’s beautiful here,” Brenda said smiling with eyes closed into the sun’s warmth.

“You’re beautiful, but I agree it beats living aboard ship.”

“Flatterer.”

Brenda took his arm and they walked slowly toward the busy buildings. The port was a huge place, and although the Shan were different in many ways, some things were similar. Zuleika spaceport had a control tower with a three hundred and sixty degree view just like a Human port, and the taxiways and runways could have belonged to any number of Alliance worlds. The buildings were not the same, but even here James could see they had the same purpose as those found at a Human port. Hangars and maintenance depots were little different wherever you happened to find yourself. They had to be. The ships they serviced all had similar requirements. Things like repairs and refuelling.

The architecture was unlike modern Human buildings. Back home, they would be made of steel and glass, but here he saw a lot of wood and stone. It looked odd in such a high tech setting as a spaceport, but pleasing to the eye all the same.

“We have a reception up ahead,” Bernard said from his place next to Janice. “More speeches I shouldn’t wonder.”

“You know very well that the Shan do not go in for such things,” Bindar said promptly.

“I meant us, my friend!”

James chuckled. Captain Colgan had asked him to give a speech to the crew when Brenda and he had first arrived back aboard
Canada
. He gave a second more detailed report at his debriefing with the senior officers, and after that, another debriefing by his colleagues in the contact team.  

When the news broke that contact had been made with an alien race, there had been a great deal of unrest among the Shan. There had been panic in the cities with thousands of Shan simply dropping everything and running for the hills. They were understandably afraid of aliens. They remembered the Merkiaari too well to believe Humans were friendly.

Kajetan and the Council of Elders had made broadcasts one after the other to calm their people, but it wasn’t until George Colgan and Janice Bristow were called upon that calm began to return. George had helped the elders by answering their questions during live broadcasts. He explained about the Alliance, and how the Fleet protected it against the Merkiaari. His willingness to meet and talk with the Shan alone and on their own turf helped the situation immensely.

As the weeks past, each of the contact team’s members had played their part in the broadcasts. James had drawn on his knowledge of history to paint a picture of the Alliance and how it came to be. David held a class on Human physiology, mainly due to some highly respected Shan healers asking their elders to facilitate it. The session was recorded and broadcast the next day and had been repeated pretty much every day since then. Bindar had found himself trying to teach the Shan the rudiments of the English language, while Sheryl was inundated with requests about her knowledge of science and technology—especially nanotech. The Shan were fascinated by everything Human related.

There were very few Shan who did not know at least one Human name, and many of them knew them all. Cubs would choose their favourite Human to learn about; they took pride in their knowledge and made a game of besting each other with questions on the subject.

He’d had enough speechifying for this lifetime, James decided. “I vote Brenda gives the next one, if one there is.”

Brenda punched him on the shoulder. “Hey no fair!”

“It’s fair. I haven’t heard one speech out of you this entire trip!” he said, rubbing his arm as if in pain, but he was joking.

Brenda had chosen to teach the Shan about the plants and animals found by the Alliance on alien worlds. The Shan were fascinated by her and who could blame them? He was too. A small group of Shan approached to greet them. James stiffened when he recognised the aged Shan female at the centre of the group. There could be no mistaking that patterned pelt and grey speckled muzzle. It was Elder Jutka. This was the first time Jutka had deigned to meet the whole team. Before this, only James and Brenda had spoken with her, and then only via the comm.

James bowed deeply. “You honour us, Elder.”

“You honour us, Elder,” Brenda said with a bow. “May I introduce my colleagues?”

“You may proceed,” Elder Jutka said, her nostrils flared as she gathered alien scents. Her whiskers, grey with age drew down at something she smelled, but rose again a moment later.

Brenda inclined her head politely and introduced the others. “Janice Bristow, professor of exobiology.”

Janice bowed. “You honour me, Elder.”

“James has spoken highly of you,” Jutka said and touched her paw to Janice’s palm in greeting.

“David Harrison, professor of biology,” Brenda said and David stepped forward.

“You honour me, Elder,” he said and bowed.

“I look forward to hearing your thoughts on what you have discovered,” Jutka said inclining her head in return before touching David’s hand.

“Sheryl Linden, professor of physics and engineering,” Brenda said ushering Sheryl forward.

“You honour me, Elder.”

“Ah!” Jutka said, her ears quivering and straining forward. “I look forward to discussing this thing called nanotech with you. It is a fascinating concept. To think such tiny machines can exist…” Jutka twitched her ears in puzzlement. “How can it be possible?”

“I have my reference texts aboard
Canada
, Elder. They are all in English, but perhaps you would like copies? I’m sure you can have them translated, or perhaps I could go through the relevant sections with you?”

“Yes, yes!” Jutka said excitedly and shocked everyone—especially the Shan accompanying her—when she bowed to Sheryl. “You honour me with your offer of teaching, Sheryl.”

“The honour is mine,” Sheryl said solemnly.

Brenda was at a loss for a moment and it took a nudge from James to put her back on track. “Ah… I… This is Bindar Singh, Elder. He is our professor of linguistics. He’s the sole reason we can converse and understand one another.”

Jutka bowed even as Bindar did. “I thank you for bringing our two peoples together, Bindar.”

“You honour me, Elder,” Bindar bowed again. “I could not have accomplished my goal without a great deal of help from the others.”

James smiled. “You must excuse Bindar, Elder. He is too modest, but we love him anyway.”

Bindar’s face heated in embarrassment. His friends chuckled and murmured their agreement. Jutka dropped her jaw in a grin and her ears flicked and twitched in what was great amusement in a Shan.

“I understand you are here for just a short time.”

“That is true Elder,” James said. “We cannot leave our work unfinished for too much longer. The Council will require a complete report before they can brief the next team.”

“It is important work,” Jutka agreed. “I have arranged for you all to stay in Zuleika with me and my mate. I have planned a tour of our city and of the Markan’deya. You will find it interesting James, considering your area of study.”

“The Markan’deya?” James said uncertainly. “The… ah... memory of the people?”

“The memory of the
race
, I believe,” Bindar corrected. “A museum perhaps.”

“Museum?” Jutka said trying the Human word carefully.

“A place where records and items pertaining to our history are displayed,” Bindar explained. “People visit a museum to learn about our history.”

“Then you have your own Markan’deya.”

“We have many museums, Elder. On Earth—our homeworld—there are hundreds. Some are dedicated to Human history, others to natural history. There are even some dedicated to past wars—lest we forget how terrible war is.”

Jutka’s ears went flat. “You must see our Markan’deya. If you want to learn what it is to be Shan, you must.”

“We all wish that,” Janice said.

“Come then, let us go now,” Jutka said turning away.

James exchanged glances with the others before they all hurried to catch Jutka and her escort. The elder had been very grim. James was careful to stay behind the Shan, but Jutka imperiously motioned him and the others forward so she might speak with them.

“Tell me of the Alliance.”

Janice took up the question and launched into their well used explanation. She knew it by heart. They all did by now. “The Alliance is composed of two hundred and thirty-four—”

“No, tell me of your
people
. I have heard enough of your Council and Fleet for now. What are your people like? What do they do, how do they live?”

Janice smiled. “People are people anywhere, Elder. Some live in cities, some in space on our stations and ships. We have teachers and soldiers, factory workers and farmers, actors and musicians, scientists and doctors… the list is endless.”

“Actors?”

“People who entertain others, Elder,” Brenda said. “We like to write stories and watch people pretend to be the characters. We have plays, and holodramas written to mimic real life, but often the story is fiction.”

“Lies used to entertain?” Jutka said doubtfully.

The Shan had a rich aural and written history. Those stories were re-enacted at special times, but James only now realised they were all factual accounts of real historical events. His mind raced over the data he had been compiling for months aboard ship. No fiction at all. None. Why hadn’t he realised what that could mean? If looked at from a Shan point of view fiction was another name for lying.

“Not lies, Elder,” James hurriedly explained. “All those who watch them know the stories are not real life. The holodramas work because people willingly submerge themselves in the stories. Humans enjoy them. I always like to imagine myself as the hero who gets to save the Alliance.”

 “Ah! You wish to be other than you are, I can understand the fascination. If the Harmonies had not chosen my course, I would most likely have become an engineer as my father was. I sometimes like to imagine myself inventing some great new thing. Something so special everyone would know my name.” Jutka smiled remembering her younger self. “The Harmonies however, have a way of guiding us along unsuspected paths.” Jutka stopped beside a big ground car waiting to take them to Zuleika. It hovered above the ground on a cushion of air. No anti-grav meant no flying and a longer trip.

“Sometimes we all feel that way, Elder,” James agreed with a nod. “I like my life and my work, but it does no harm for me to imagine what would have happened had I taken another path.”

Jutka climbed aboard the car followed by the ladies; Bernard and David were next, followed by Bindar and James last. There was plenty of room to sit comfortably and they continued their conversation uninterrupted by the quiet power up of the hover car. It glided smoothly along and James thought the Alliance should take note of this mode of travel. Alliance roads were notoriously uncared for and hence travel upon them was often uncomfortable and noisy.