Lacuna: Demons of the Void (12 page)

["Tomato... savoury."]

“Savoury. Again, very good.”

And so it went on for weeks as the
Beijing
hid in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Liao and Yu broadened their knowledge of Saara and taught her their own. Liao and Yu together found that Saara was outpacing them both. She could hold a basic conversation within no time and, as they grew close to the Moon, her fluency was startling. When her language skills had improved enough they had given her a dictionary, which she had spent every last second devouring with a voraciousness that was surprising.

Three days before their arrival at the lunar colony, Liao and Yu stepped into Saara’s cell to begin their daily lessons. As they did, they saw that Saara was muttering quietly to herself – a kind of a chant or incantation, based on the rhythmic nature of her intonations.

“Are you alright?” Liao asked, causing Saara to jump – obviously she was not expecting anyone to listen.

["Yes. I was merely reciting one of the stories of my people."]

“Stories?” The Toralii’s grasp on the language improved daily, and Melissa remained impressed with Saara’s progress.

["That is correct. Of the Toralii, my people are called the Telvan... much as you are Chinese, from within the humans. The Telvan... we are documentarians and academics. We document and record what we can about everything we find. A useful way to store this information, and the way many lessons are taught in our..."] she struggled for a moment, ["...education buildings for children... is that we retell them as a story."]

“Education building for... you mean a
school
.”

["Yes... school."]

On a wild impulse, Liao smiled. “Perhaps our lesson today could take the form of a story then? You talk, and we’ll listen.”

Saara’s eyes widened in confusion. ["You wish to hear one of my people’s stories?"]

Yu chimed in. “Of course. We want to hear everything you have to say... Everything we can learn from you is something valuable for us. Stories are an important transmitter of cultural values. It is from your stories that we can judge you, much as you have no doubt judged us.”

Saara seemed impressed, but her eyes flicked cautiously to the watching marines. Nevertheless, she seemed to smile with her eyes, more than her lips, her ears perking up.

["Perhaps you would hear the story of our greatest treasure, then.

["Back before our people united under a single cause, we were fractured, warlike, quarrelsome people who grouped in nation-states and fought constantly with our own kind. The hills of the Kaater Mountains, they say, saw so much fighting that they were forever stained the colour of dried blood.

["Eventually, as these things tend to do, the strongest of all the armies, the Neralan, broke through the battle lines and pressed on through the defender’s homelands. They were intent on plundering and pillaging, and the stories they heard as they moved through the ruined townships near the battle lines excited them to no end. Tales of Evarel‘s most beautiful and most precious treasure, held by the Autiellans.

["The more they heard about this treasure, the more they desired it. Moving beyond the barren wastelands of the battlefield and into the lush, fertile farmland of Autiella, whose armies were broken and no longer able to defend their land, they heard little else. Eager for conquest, and with their bloodlust stoked to a roaring flame, the Neralanese wanted the treasure... and at first they tried the direct approach.

["The first village the Neralanese raided was slaughtered save a single survivor. When they interrogated her, she told them that the treasure had previously been there, yes, but was there no longer... The village over the mountain had it. She would say no more despite their best efforts, so they executed her and moved on.

["The second village they raided, the one over the mountain, was more carefully planned. In a lightning raid, the farmhouses were torched and the entire population of villagers rounded up and captured. But these Autiellans too insisted that the treasure had fled the village when the Neralanese arrived. Once again, the Autiellans would not say what the treasure was. But looking around them at their fertile lands, happy and fat citizens, and many children, the Neralanese reasoned it must be powerful indeed.

["Executing the population of the second village and moving on, the Neralanese took even more care with their next raid; it was conducted under the cover of darkness, and the Autiellan guards were disabled by darts filled with sleeping poison. It looked as though this raid, like the last, would be a success... but the Neralanese had driven too far into Autiellan territory. As the main army approached the village, seemingly unopposed, the Autiellans’ reserves sprung their ambush and the surprised Neralanese were butchered.

["The leader of the Neralanese was bought before the Autiellans and, in a voice approaching that of madness, he asked the Autiellans if the treasure was in
this
village. They responded that it was. Before her execution, she was asked if she had any last requests – the leader said that she wanted to know what the treasure was.

["The Autiellans explained that the greatest treasure their people could ever have... was peace. It had brought them bountiful crops and happy lives. Some say the Neralanese leader realized the folly of her actions before she was executed, while others insist that she went to her grave cursing and spitting at the Autiellans for their ‘lies’. What is certain, though, is that the Neralanese never invaded Autiella again."]

Liao could barely believe that the species that had attacked her home planet would have such complex morals, especially ones that would hold
peace,
of all things, in such high esteem. It was like meeting Genghis Khan only to have him pontificate about the joys of monogamy.

“It’s... certainly an interesting story.”

["It is."]

Liao considered it for some time, holding her chin in her hands. When she spoke, her voice was quiet and reserved.

“Since you claim that peace is the greatest treasure a society can have, do you think there will ever be peace between our people?”

Then it was Saara’s turn to be introspective. Her yellow eyes flicked between Yu and Liao, examining each of them in measure, the Toralii female ever so carefully considering her response.

["Yes, assuming you abandon your efforts to develop Voidwarp technology.”]

The two humans exchanged a confused glance. ‘Voidwarp.’ Saara had used a word which they didn’t understand, but which used as its root two other words they had learned together.

Liao looked to Yu, nodding her head in encouragement. “Voidwarp...? You mean the jump drive?”

[“Yes... what you would call ‘jump drive’. Agree to abandon it and we may have peace... The Toralii have diplomatic relations with many species who take this path, especially the Telvan who are not warlike. Trade alliances, social alliances... military alliances are theoretically forbidden by our laws, but we protect our allies in practice. Although, again, this is assuming they make no moves to possess Voidwarp technology."]

Liao shook her head. Her tone was understanding and just a little sad, but resolute. “Unfortunately that won’t be possible. Could you share with us your knowledge? We could work together, move beyond what has happened and-”

["Then I believe our peoples will always be at war, Captain, until one of us is defeated.”] Saara turned away from both of them, staring absently at the plain metal of the bulkhead. [“I am sorry, Captain Liao. What you say makes sense, of a sort, but if you understood... you would not ask such a thing. For what it is worth, you strike me as a kind and noble person, even if you are my enemy. In another life, I think you and I could have been... good friends."]

“Agreed...” Liao answered softly, her voice tinged with regret. “...in another life.”

Chapter VI

“Beginnings and Ends”

*****

Docking Umbilical

TFR
Beijing

Mars/Jupiter Asteroid Belt

Four weeks later

The TFR
Tehran
completed her docking with the
Beijing
, the first time the great pillars had ever physically joined. Liao made her way to the docking umbilical. She was afforded the Captain’s privilege of being the first to disembark from the vessel.

From the moment she stepped off the cold steel of the
Beijing
’s decks, she was accosted by a throng of reporters who fought and shoved to be the first to ask her a question.

“Captain Liao! Captain Liao! Shreya Bose from IMC-TV, may I-”

“
队长，你能不能告诉我们任何有关外星人
-”

“Any words for the people back home, Commander Liao-”

“Captain Liao, what can you tell me about Commander Sheng-”

“A word for the BBC, Captain – is it true the
Beijing
was nearly destroyed?”

“Captain, is it true you are keeping an alien warrior as a prisoner in your bri-”

She held up her hands to silence the din. Staring down the business end of dozens of microphones, recorders, lights and video cameras thrust in her face, Liao squinted to see.

She cursed Sheng's squealing hide. The press were here because of
him
.

“One at a time, one at a time... okay. First of all, I
can
say that it’s very heartening to see that the
Tehran
was able to meet us in the asteroid belt, and-”

The voices all sprang up again, shouting over each other to be heard. Liao stepped back, overwhelmed briefly, until a booming voice cut over the din.

“Attention everyone! Your attention please. Thank you. Now, a press conference will be held at 0930 hours, Zulu time, in the main conference room on deck ten. Absolutely
no
questions will be answered until then. Captain Liao and her crew are very tired and they need rest. Answers will come, but unfortunately they will come
later
.”

Liao peered through the bright lights of reporters’ video cameras, spotting a familiar face. James! Smiling widely, the man took Liao’s hand in his and – with a significant degree of roughness – shouldered his way through the wolf pack of hungry reporters, leading her further into the belly of the
Tehran
. Despite James clearing the way, the reporters followed, proving utterly unable to be deterred like predators stalking a wounded beast... until Grégoire lead Liao directly to his quarters and locked the door, closing the decompression seal with a hiss.

Liao gathered herself and took a breath. “Thanks, James.”

They stood there in silence, arm in arm, until Grégoire finally broke the tension.

“Quite the adventure you’ve had, or so I’ve heard.”

She laughed, somewhat reluctantly disentangling herself from him, grinning ruefully. Reaching up to her head, Melissa took off her hat and carefully hung it on James’ hat rack.

“Yes, quite. Why did you let
them
on board?”

James shrugged, unbuttoning his jacket and throwing it over a chair. “I didn’t have a choice. TFR Command said that the
Battle of Jupiter
– that’s what they call it these days, you know – was a huge publicity and recruitment victory and they want to milk it for all it’s worth. Unfortunately, that means you’ll have to face them sooner rather than later, but...” he grinned. “...not today.”

“Smashing. Looking forward to that. On a related note, got any of that quality scotch left?”

“For you, old friend, of course I do... even if I have to fly back to Earth to get it myself.”

“If you do that your arms will get pretty sore,” Liao observed wryly, giving a wink. James laughed.

“Perhaps, although I’m remarkably fit, so I doubt it’ll be much of a problem for me. Anyway, have a seat... I’ll get you whatever we have left.”

Sinking into his wide couch with a relieved sigh, Liao felt the stress of her encounter with the reporters slowly melt away. Grégoire certainly had an excellent sense of both style and function; the cushions were relaxing and comfortable, and as soon as she eased herself into them she immediately realized how tired she was. Based on Grégoire’s sympathetic grin as he returned with the promised glasses of scotch, her exhaustion was readily painted on her face.

“You look like you could use two of these,” he observed, handing her the glass. His eyebrows raised in surprise as the small glass was immediately upended, its golden liquid disappearing down her throat within seconds.

“More like two dozen,” she commented, her words followed by a series of rough coughs, the consequence of downing so much hard liquor in so short a time. Grégoire sat opposite her, his dark hands on his knees.

“I heard you had Sheng relieved of his position.”

“I did, yes.”

James’ voice was sympathetic. “That couldn’t have been easy...”

Liao’s voice held a certain gravity about it that gave weight to her statement. “It was not, no. Sheng helped me a lot when I first took command... helped me settle into my role as Captain far better than I would have without him. I trusted him despite not knowing him all that well, and... all the time he was envious of my position. It’s... a little shocking, and I think that’s why I didn’t take what happened too well.”