Morning Song: A Seeders Universe Novel (14 page)

“Good,” Ray said, standing. “We will jump back when your first training is complete to help in answering any questions you might have.”

“Just stay seated,” Tacita said as she stood beside Ray.

Then they turned and moved toward their command chairs.

And at that moment a simple bubble surrounded Maria and Roscoe and collapsed in skin-tight on them.

Maria only had a moment to even think about it before the images came flooding in.

And for the first time, she started to really understand that even though she had been an expert, how little she had known about Seeders.

And their history.

THIRTY-ONE

AS THE BUBBLE that had wrapped around them dropped and Roscoe let the last of the images fade away, he shook his head. It felt like he had had so much information crammed into his mind, it would be impossible to remember it all.

But somehow, it felt like he did.

Around them the large circular room hadn’t changed at all.

He was still holding Maria’s hand and he turned to face her.

“You all right?”

“I think so,” she said, blinking her wonderful golden eyes. He could feel so much more of their attraction now and all he wanted to do was hold her in his arms.

She moved over and leaned into him and he put his arm around her.

“This feels perfect.”

“It does,” he said.

They sat there silently like that for a good minute, just not talking. Roscoe was lost in all the information he had been given, and in his incredible feeling for Maria.

Two command chairs shimmered into place and again Chairman Ray and Tacita got out and came toward them.

“How long were we in that information flow?” Roscoe asked, describing what had happened to them in the best way he could.

“Three hours,” Ray said.

“Food will be brought in for all of us,” Tacita said, “and we can answer questions as you have them.”

“I’m not sure what I know and don’t know,” Maria said.

“That feeling will pass with time as your mind organizes everything,” Ray said.

Roscoe nodded.

“Can you help me,” Maria said, “if possible, understand a timeline structure for the Seeders.”

“Of course,” Ray said. “It was your passion before this, I would have assumed it would remain your passion.”

Roscoe was just going to let her lead on this. He needed the same thing, a way to organize the vast amount of information that had flowed into his mind in the last few hours.

“The Seeders originated on this planet?” she asked. “The first Earth as it is called.”

“Yes,” Ray said.

“And as they managed to make it into space and discovered trans-tunnel drive, they spread out and discovered they were alone in the universe.”

“They were alone in this galaxy, yes,” Ray said.

Roscoe was following all of this and having Maria talk it out loud really was helping him organize his mind as well.

“And as they spread out, they developed the techniques the frontline Seeders use now in terraforming appropriate planets,” Maria said, “and then seeding them with human life and plant life from their original home world.”

“Yes,” Ray said. “But in those first few hundred thousand years in this galaxy, they learned the hard lesson about the falseness of non-intervention in growing human civilizations. It was not a smooth road to galaxy-wide stability.”

Roscoe nodded, remembering all that very clearly now as Ray put it in clear form.

“After this galaxy stabilized,” Ray said, “and became very advanced, faster ships were built from a series of really lucky inventions and we were able to jump to a nearby galaxy. We again found no other intelligent life.”

“So they seeded it,” Maria said, nodding.

“Yes,” Ray said. “And continued on until in one galaxy the explorers ran across alien life, a young civilization they called The Ants because of their heritage.”

Roscoe could see The Ants clearly in his mind. Very close to Earth ants, only the size of small dogs and with advanced hive minds. When humans had discovered them, The Ants had managed to get into space, but only barely.

“We left that galaxy alone and moved around them,” Ray said, “not bothering them.”

“They are now extinct?” Maria said simply.

“Sadly, yes,” Ray said. “But we have not touched their galaxy in any fashion in case some of their members have survived.”

“Seven alien races, seven galaxies skipped,” Roscoe said, clearly getting the images of each alien race. None of them felt threatening in any fashion in his teaching. And four of the seven were now extinct. None of the four had yet to make it out of their own home system.

Roscoe knew there was an entire branch of Seeders who did nothing but study and look for new life forms. They always moved ahead of any Seeder frontline into a galaxy to make sure there were no aliens in that galaxy anywhere.

“That is correct,” Ray said, answering Roscoe’s statement about how humans skip entire galaxies with hints of alien races.

Tacita finally added to the discussion. “To answer the next question, no one really knows exactly how many galaxies humans have spread over. The galaxy this original planet is in cannot be seen from the Milky Way.”

“That far?” Roscoe asked, again not being able to comprehend the distance.

“That far. No number really describes the distance,” Ray said.

“How many Mother Seeder ships are there?” Maria asked.

Roscoe was surprised he didn’t have that information in the giant information load they had taken in.

“At the moment there are twenty-eight of us,” Ray said. “Counting your ship. Fourteen more ships are in transit as the
Morning Song
did, but we hope without the programmed braking problem. Ten more are under construction in various galaxies.”

“We need many, many more,” Tacita said.

Ray only nodded to that.

“And our mission,” Roscoe said, “is to crew and stock the
Morning Song
and head out from the Milky Way in a new direction?”

“That is the basics of it,” Ray said.

Maria squeezed Roscoe’s hand to signal there was more that Ray wasn’t saying, but Roscoe had caught that as well.

“But you want us to go in a certain direction,” Roscoe said, “that has some possible problems, correct?”

Ray and Tacita both sat there staring at them, then Ray nodded slowly. “Yes. We have heard that there may be another galaxy-spanning race in the direction we would like you and
Morning Song
to go.”

Suddenly he and Maria being picked for this made sense.

He looked at Ray and nodded. “You picked Military and History and a lot of brains to lead this because you think we may need both in what we run into. And we are from a young galaxy still able to think without centuries of training into Seeder dogma.”

Ray and Tacita nodded.

“After a time of growth and steady worlds, humans by nature are very pacifistic,” Ray said. “We would stand little to no chance against an aggressive alien race who didn’t like us. We don’t even like large governments and when not needed, we disband them.”

“Did you know this alien race might be out there,” Maria asked, “when you sent the leading edge of Seeders and the
Morning Song
over a million years ago toward the Milky Way?”

“Yes,” Ray said bluntly. “We need you to recruit fighters as well as workers and arm
Morning Song
for a fight if needed.”

“The empty hanger,” Roscoe said. “A fighter deck.”

“Yes,” Ray said. “And when the second ship arrives in forty thousand years, it will recruit from Andromeda and head out in a similar, but slightly different direction to see what it can find.”

“And you have not scouted this alien race in any fashion?” Roscoe asked.

“We have some,” Ray said. “From what we can tell, their main galaxy a million years ago was about thirty galaxies from the Milky Way, but we have no idea if they are now advancing or not in any direction. We really know little about them. All of this will be in the final educational session in ten days. One thing at a time.”

Roscoe didn’t much like waiting on something as important as that, but he understood. And Maria’s hand in his helped him.

At that moment a table appeared between them, their seats on the couch lifted them to a comfortable dining position close to the table, and then food appeared.

Turkey, gravy, rolls, and more potatoes and dressing than any four people could eat in a week.

And it smelled heavenly. Until that moment Roscoe didn’t realize just how hungry he had become.

“Eat,” Ray said. “Then return to
Morning Song
and rest. Tomorrow will be another long day of learning.”

“Can our minds handle this kind of information flow for ten more days?” Roscoe asked.

Ray and Tacita both smiled. Then Tacita said simply. “Yes, and you have only begun the learning. It will continue for life.”

Then she leaned forward and grabbed a large drumstick as Roscoe just sat there until Maria pushed him to start eating.

Section Three:

AN UNDERSTANDING OF POWER

THIRTY-TWO

WHEN MARIA AND Roscoe returned to
Morning Song
, both Callie and Fisher came running down to the lower level of the Command Center to face them. They were both clearly very happy and relieved.

Behind them the big screen showed the open space and in the distance was the Milky Way Galaxy, filling a quarter of the screen with its billions of suns.

Maria felt like she was once again home and could feel herself relax.

She and Roscoe both did a quick scan of
Morning Song
to make sure she was doing all right. Everything seemed perfectly in balance and the big ship was still braking. After they got down far enough to allow other crew to come on board, they could start some of the major repairs that were needed.

Maria smiled at Callie and Fisher as she and Roscoe stood, continuing to hold hands. “We didn’t know we were leaving like that or we would have warned you.”

“Yeah, a surprise,” Roscoe said.

“Where did you go?” Fisher asked.

“A long ways away to do a training session in the history of Seeders,” Maria said.

“Every day we will be doing another,” Roscoe said, “I suppose on different topics, so this will be normal. Are you all right here?”

“We are,” Fisher nodded. “We’re doing eight hour shifts and rotating.”

“Great,” Maria said.

Roscoe looked at her and smiled. “You up for a little exploring before we get some rest and go back to class?

“I’d love that,” she said, smiling, a surge of excitement running through her. Even though she knew the seeder history now and she really understood this ship, she wanted to see it all for herself.

Roscoe looked at Fisher. “Call if you need our help. And
Morning Song
, please help them and keep us informed.”

On the image of space that filled the large front screen, the letters formed.

I will.

“Thank you,
Morning Song
,” Maria said.

Then Roscoe squeezed her hand and jumped them.

As they arrived, the lights came up.

They were standing in a huge, multi-leveled room with a giant fireplace in the center far wall. It did not have furniture, but Maria could imagine this big room with art, furniture, and a crackling fire in the fireplace being amazingly comfortable.

It felt comfortable and like a home even without furniture.

The floor had a soft substance that felt like carpet on it, but she knew from her knowledge of the ship that it wasn’t. It was part of the decking and could be altered to be as thick or as hard or any color that anyone wanted.

She knew exactly where they were. Roscoe had jumped them to the Chairmen’s Suite.

Their suite.

“Wow,” she said, looking around.

Hand-in-hand, they moved to look at the huge master bedroom and bath with a giant shower and a wonderful-looking tub that she knew she could spend hours in soaking and reading.

They both knew that the water systems in the big ship would need some major work to be up to full function after the long voyage.
Morning Son
g had robots working on it, but they were making very little progress. So neither of them suggested using the big shower.

Each of them had their own office in the large suite attached as well, each office with its own bathroom attached.

There was also a huge kitchen and nice sized dining area that could hold a table for ten easily. And there was a larger dining area that could hold thirty people.