Worlds Away (8 page)

13

Kulsat
Ship :

Centauri
System :

A pounding
headache
woke Justine. After she regained consciousness, she decided it was
most likely an aftereffect of the sleep agent the Kulsat had introduced into
her tank.

She pushed herself up on one arm, but the motion made her
stomach heave, and she let herself lie back down until the queasiness faded.

Darkness filled her awareness. The minute amount of Kinemetic
radiation she’d absorbed from the presence of the Kulsat science leader was
gone and her
sight
with it.

Two conflicting emotions warred inside her: if the Kulsat
returned, she would absorb enough of the radiation to
see
again; but
that meant the interrogation would resume. Justine was running out of tricks to
delay the science leader.

Her situation was looking more and more hopeless.

“Is it true?”

Justine jerked at the sound of the mechanical voice. She
couldn’t
see
anyone—or anything—but someone had obviously used the
linguistic computer to communicate with her.

She made a guess. “You’re not the science leader.”

“He is undertaking other tasks, and will not return for some
time.”

“Who are you?” Justine asked.

There was a long pause, and for a moment, she thought the
newcomer might have gone away.

The mechanical voice said, “I am being the cleaner of floors
and walls.”

“What is your name?” Justine asked, but only a long silence
answered her. “Do you have a name?”

“I have an identifier. There is no corresponding sound.”

Perhaps the computer needed a frame of reference. “My name
is Justine.”

A moment later, the mechanical voice replied, “The computer
does not have a corresponding motion for that word.”

“It means ‘just’ or ‘fair’. What does your name mean?” she
asked the newcomer.

“I have a circle-shaped red spot above my left eye.”

“Is that how you identify each other,” Justine asked, “by
distinguishing marks?”

“Yes, you have knowledge now.”

“May I call you ‘Red Spot’ for short?”

“The computer is using the correct motion for my name,
Justine. What is your station?”

“I’m…” For a moment, Justine was going to say she was a
retired major, but she didn’t know whether the language computer could interpret
rank. “I am the pilot of our ship.”

“You are the transportation leader?”

“I guess you could call it that.” A moment later, she asked,
“Does your science leader have a name?”

“He has a pattern of three dark crescents on the webbing of
one limb.”

“Three Crescents?” Justine said.

“Yes. He is one of the oldest Risen in the Consortium.”

Justine felt a kernel of hope growing inside her. The
newcomer seemed curious, and was much more communicative than the science
leader. Then a thought hit her: maybe the Kulsat were employing a psychological
trick. The science leader was the bad cop; Red Spot was the good cop.

“Are you a Risen?” Justine asked, testing to see if the
alien would lie. “Or a Deficient?”

“I have not been offered the Gift,” Red Spot said. “I am not
of suitable station yet to attempt to Rise.”

“Are you not supposed to be here?”

The mechanical voice spoke. “The science laboratory is for
the science leader and his servants. This room is restricted from Potentials.
It is an offense to disobey rules. You will report my offense?”

“I won’t say anything.” Justine shook her head. “If it is
against the rules, why did you take the risk to talk to me?”

The mechanical voice spoke. “I need to know if it is true.”

“If what is true?”

“We were told you are a scout for a barbarian army that
wishes the expiration of our kind.”

“That’s not true,” Justine said. “For the most part, our
people are explorers.”

“Then you practice deception?”

Shocked at the accusation, Justine asked, “What makes you
say that?”

“You related a history of your conduct. There is violence.
There is atrocity. There is abduction. You are no different than the other races.”

Gasping, Justine realized that the Kulsat must have analyzed
the story she’d recited for the translation computer,
Peter Pan,
and thought
she was talking about something that had happened in her past. Without a
cultural reference, the story must have sounded terrible to an alien species.

“That was a fantasy,” she said. “For entertainment.”

“You do not practice atrocity? You do not cut off the limbs
of your enemies and feed them to animals?”

Justine let out a huff. “Not as a rule, no.” Then she
thought that if she told Red Spot a truth, she might engender trust. “It is
true that there are some individuals from our world who break our laws, but we
have a system in place to punish the offenders and to protect the innocent, and
to protect those who do not have power.”

“Your system protects those with no value?”

“Red Spot,” she said, “our kind believes all beings have
value.”

There was a long silence, and for a moment, Justine thought
Red Spot might have left, but then the mechanical voice came through.

“Green Stripe Over One Eye shared time with me. He was
assisting me to increase my station so that one day I may attempt to Rise. He
provided companionship. He had value … to me. Now he is expired.”

At first, Justine didn’t know what Red Spot was trying to
tell her, but then she understood. Green Stripe must have been the Deficient
who the science leader had killed. She guessed the two of them had some kind of
intimate relationship—though Justine really didn’t have a basis to understand
what that would entail. In her mind, she began to think of Red Spot as female.

“I must go,” Red Spot said via the mechanical voice. “I will
be discovered.”

“No, wait!” Justine cried out, but then she smelled the
familiar scent of the tranquilizer agent, and before she had a chance to
protest, she fell back to the floor, unconscious.

∞

The headache was worse the next time she woke. At least some
of her
sight
had been restored. Of course, that meant one thing: Three Crescents
was back.

Justine struggled to a sitting position and used her
sight
to look around. The science leader was not alone. There was another Kulsat in
the room, floating a few meters away from Three Crescents. The Kinemetic
radiation in him was much stronger than that in the science leader.

Three Crescents typed. “You have completed your sleep cycle.
Cooperation will resume now.”

“Good morning,” Justine said, and watched as the two Kulsat
signed to each other.

Three Crescents turned back to the computer. “Irrelevant
information. We require specifications of your home system. Population.
Location. Technology level. Describe your understanding of the Gift. Do you
possess the final component?”

When Justine didn’t reply right away, the Kulsat typed
again. “Cooperation was assured.”

“You didn’t even introduce me to your new friend.” She got
to her feet and gave the other Kulsat a nod. “My name is Justine,” she said.

All eight of Three Crescents’ tentacles twitched. “Your name
is a deception.”

“It’s just a name,” she said. “Something to call each other.
Certainly, no harm will come from sharing our names.”

Three Crescents turned to the other Kulsat. Whatever it was
they were discussing, it seemed to be a heated debate. By the end of the
conversation, Three Crescents was quivering. Justine guessed it was in
frustration.

He moved away from the control panel, and the other Kulsat
approached.

“I am Ship Leader Long Fingers On Two Of His Limbs. We have
analyzed your confession. You are the shadow form. You are to be using stealth
techniques to capture our spawn. We are familiar with this purpose. You wish to
examine our biology, and develop a means to destroy us.”

“You’ve got it all wrong,” Justine said, wishing she’d never
picked
Peter Pan
to recite. “I had no intention of kidnapping anyone. It
was you who abducted me, remember?”

“All aliens that encroach on our territory wish to destroy
us. Your confession has confirmed this fact. We are validated to collect you.”

“It wasn’t a confession.” Justine had to restrain herself
from slapping the glass; that would only demonstrate that she was capable of
violence, and it was imperative that she be as diplomatic and politic as she
could. “It was a story. If you’ll let me explain, I’m sure we can come to an
understanding—”

Long Fingers typed. “It is apparent your kind practice
deception. Any information you provide may be false. You attempt to conceal the
final component of the Gift. We will attempt to search for other specimens of
your kind, should they exist in this system, and extract biological
information.”

The ship leader turned from the computer and signed
something to Three Crescents. Justine didn’t need a translation program to
interpret its meaning.

As Long Fingers swam out of the room, and Three Crescents
turned to one of his other computers, Justine’s frustration boiled over.

“I said I would cooperate. I’m not lying. I’ll talk to you,
if you’ll just listen to me. This is all a big misunderstanding.”

When the science leader continued working on his machine,
ignoring Justine, she slapped the glass to get his attention, not caring how it
looked to them.

“Three Crescents,” she said. “I’m talking to you.”

He turned around, and a ripple went through his body as he
stared at Justine with those large eyes of his. Finally, he propelled himself to
the translation control panel and typed.

“I have never offered my identifier. How did you acquire
this knowledge?”

Cursing herself for the slip, Justine said, “It was a guess.
I see the three dark crescents on the web between your tentacles. You name
yourself after distinguishing marks, don’t you?”

Three Crescents seemed to consider her answer. “You are practicing
additional deception.” He went to another computer station and typed on the
control panel. For the first time, Justine could see one of their displays, but
the information on it was meaningless to her. It looked like a series of
squiggles and dashes—obviously their written language—but there was no way she
could interpret them.

Turning back to the translation computer, Three Crescents
typed to her. “There has been unauthorized access to this laboratory. We have a
traitor. Did you promise information of final component to gain assistance from
the defector? Reveal the conspirator, and there will be no discomfort in your
expiry. Refuse cooperation and I will apply continuous discomfort.”

Backing away from the glass, Justine felt the terror growing
in her. She had no idea how much torture she could endure, and didn’t know if
the sonic attack was the limit of what they could do to her.

She wasn’t about to give up Red Spot to them. Even though
she was a Kulsat, she’d demonstrated that not all of their kind had the same
disregard for life as Three Crescents or Long Fingers. Red Spot had grieved for
the death of Green Stripe, even though their society had labeled him a
Deficient. She had also put her trust in Justine not to betray her.

Three Crescents typed something. “Discomfort will begin
now.”

The familiar hum of the sonic attack filled the tank, and
before Justine could yell out at curse at Three Crescents, she doubled over in
pain.

The torture went on for some time…

∞

At one point, Justine began to wish her tormentor would just
finish her off and put an end to the agony. She was certain the sonic blasts
had caused some internal damage. The low-wave attacks made her vomit, and the
high-pitched sonics left her dizzy and disoriented.

When she felt a trickle of blood leak out from one ear, she
yelled at Three Crescents in frustration. “How can I hear your questions if I’m
deaf?”

The sonic blasts ceased, but the ringing in her ears
continued. Even through that, she heard Three Crescents’ next question.

“You are prepared to cooperate? Please identify the
traitor.”

She shrugged. “I can’t tell. You all look the same to me.”

“Describe distinguishing marks.”

Justine found it difficult to concentrate, and felt
nauseated, but she had to keep delaying Three Crescents. Every minute she
stalled him was another minute for Alex and the others to get farther away.

She said, “I don’t know. He had a green stripe running down
one arm.”

“Deception. That Deficient has expired.” Three Crescents
typed for a few moments. “You have provided verification that your kind are an
imminent threat to the Kulsat and must be eliminated. Once you are all removed
from existence, we will investigate your world for the final component.”

“No, you can’t do that,” Justine said. “Why won’t you listen
to reason?”

“Identify the traitor.”

Justine shook her head. “There is no traitor.”

“You have displayed the willingness to endure discomfort to
protect conspirators, though they are not your species. Should conspirators no
longer exist, you will have no reason to withhold cooperation.”

He turned around and signed to one of the other Kulsat
floating just outside the laboratory’s entranceway. That Kulsat swam away in a
rush.

Within a minute, he returned with what looked like an army
of Kulsat. They all tried to fit inside the laboratory, but it soon became too
crowded. Three Crescents signed something to them, and the majority of the
aliens swam back outside, but remained in waiting.

Justine counted twenty Kulsat still in the laboratory, not
including Three Crescents. Of those, three had Kinemetic radiation in
them—Deficients—and the rest were normal Kulsat. With her senses, she detected
seven other ‘Deficients’ among those waiting outside the laboratory. Justine
had no idea if Red Spot was among the twenty.