Freedom Vs. Aliens (Aliens Series Book 3) (22 page)

Jack knew that. He just hoped he would not have to use the torps. Their fleet ships had just four torps per ship, plus a stockpile of ten more on the
Bismarck
. He preferred to keep his thermonukes ready for fighting in ‘subject people’ systems and against Hunters of the Great Dark.

“Incoming AV signal!” yelled Denise. “Going up front,” she said in a somewhat calmer voice.

The true-light image of the planet-moon combo and the Sensor overlay moved to one side of the front screen. Filling half the screen was a new image.

A BooMak oxen of the larger size stood facing him from within a large room. Six other BooMak of mixed sizes were scattered about a room that looked like a Command Bridge, given its roomy size. Each oxen was resting atop a padded bench. Thick gray straps passed over the rear haunches and front shoulders of each oxen, linking them to the metal floor. That told him the BooMak did not have artificial gravity and, like humans before the arrival of carnivore predators from the stars, had to secure themselves against thrust displacement. The central BooMak, his shaggy brown fur flaring out in the microgee of the Alien ship, fixed two yellow eyes on him. The red pupils shrank as it reacted to the bright yellow light of Jack’s cabin. It opened its long-jawed mouth.

“Greetings to Herd Leader Jack Munroe, of the biped species Human,” it said in a rolling rumble that was instantly translated to Belter English. “Your appearance answers a long-held debate among our people. Whether our two species were the only intelligent life in the universe.” Its shoulders bunched up as thick muscles moved under the dense fur. “Clearly we are not. While we found small lifeforms on the moon of the inner world Heatload, it had no awareness of itself. You and your ship herd are now here. And others you call Hunters live among other stars. What is your intent toward our herd?”

Jack felt a chill run up his neck. The tone of the BooMak’s words was measured. But the look in the yellow eyes was that of a herd leader about to trample down an enemy. “Peaceful! We will leave your grazing range if you wish. We are not like the yellow predator that we saw attack a herd of your people in one of your broadcasts.” He paused, saw the shoulder tensing ease a bit, and licked dry lips. “Do you have a name? We humans prefer to show respect to another person by use of their personal name and title.”

The five-finger purple tongue flicked out of the BooMak’s large mouth, touched a Tech pedestal just below its chin, then withdrew. The speaker blinked, dark brown eyelids closing quickly over eyes with human-like irises, then clearing. “My title is Herd Master. Our two names are Thoughtful and Progenitor. You may call me as you wish.”

This was clearly a male bull aiming to protect his herd, his family and his ship mates. Who might or might not belong to his biological family. “Herd Master, you are strong. We humans respect strength. But what do you mean by saying you have two names? Are they the names of your mother and father linked together?”

The Herd Master looked over his left shoulder to a smaller oxen who was working a touch pedestal with tongue fingers. “Researcher, what kind of people are these Humans?”

The smaller female oxen, whose yellow horns were shorter than those of Herd Master, looked toward Jack. The yellow-white fleshy mass atop her skull moved slightly, as if it were jelly-like. “Herd Master, they resemble the wild ones on the island of Metropia. Those forebears of ours were only one species with two sexes. Like most animals and many smaller lifeforms on Comfort. You should explain
us
.”

Us? Jack saw the seven BooMak were composed of three large males and four smaller females, resting on padded benches at duty stations on the deck of their ship.

Herd Master’s tense shoulders relaxed completely. “Ahhh. You Humans are truly different from us. We . . . we BooMaks are two species joined together for joint benefit. The Boo part of us has four legs, a large body, two perceptor orbs and a mouth to ingest food.” The purple tongue flicked out, tapped the top of the Tech pedestal in front of it, and a holo image took shape to one side. In the holo was the outline of the BooMak oxen. But that outline now changed, with the oxen portion staying unchanged while the mass atop the creature’s skull moved away from the quadruped shape. “The Mak part of us is a flesh mass with two defender spines. It is fed through the blood of the Boo part of us. The Mak component is mainly . . . thinking tissue. Together we are the BooMak. Understood?”

“Symbionts!” called Denise, her tone intense. “Captain Jack, these people are two distinct species living in symbiosis. They may be facultative symbionts who can exist apart but choose to associate physically. Or the Mak part could be a parasite on the Boo body. The Boo portion provides mobility and nourishment to the Mak portion.”

Chills ran up Jack’s neck. He faced a parasite Alien with the ability to control the mind of a mammal-like ungulate. “Hideyoshi, do we get the hell out of this system? I will not take a chance on any human being possessed by this Mak lifeform!”

“You fear us?” rumbled Herd Master. The Alien blinked again, looked aside at the female it had called Researcher, then back to Jack. “Strange the universe is. Fear not. Our jointness is by mutual choice. Those Boo who live on Metropia are the people who refused association with the Mak. We call them wild, but they are simply primitive in culture. They think and talk and make tools. In a simple manner. Our Mak component joined with willing Boo persons long millennia ago. The Mak component once rode smaller animals of limited mental powers. When it discovered we Boo, our joined mind powers were greater than any achieved by our wild Boo cousins. The images you saw in our broadcasts, our cities, our ships that travel the airless void, the colony we are building on the moon of Heatload, they are all the result of our joining.”

Jack wiped wet palms against his leotard. Wordless murmurs from Elaine, Max, Blodwen, Archibald, Cassie and Nikola told him everyone but Denise was shocked by this development. Still, these people were less strange than the Mikmang centipede-lobster invertebrates.

“It could all be true,” Denise said hurriedly. “Symbiosis on Earth occurs in three forms. They are mutualistic, commensalistic or parasitic. Mutualistic symbiotic relationships are either obligative, where neither can live without the other, or facultative, where the combination of both is more . . . more productive than either portion existing alone. This sounds like a mutualistic symbiosis that is facultative.”

“Examples!” Jack almost yelled, feeling too uncertain about what the Alien was telling him versus what his gut was feeling.

“Mistletoe,” Denise said softly, calmly. “It can only live by drawing in nutrients from the host tree. That is called ectosymbiosis. The bacteria in our gut are endosymbionts. Anyway, these Mak are like the
symbiodinium
dinoflagelattes that live inside corals, sea anemones and jellyfish. Or like the remoras that attach to sharks. Barnacles on a whale is another example. This exists on Earth. Just not at the large mammal level.”

This symbiosis thing sure as hell were not normal to him. But Denise was their Animal Ethologist and Behavioral Ecologist. She had educated them all about the natures of other Aliens. Whether they stayed or left depended on a single answer. “Herd Master, would the Mak component of yourself seek to live on a human?”

The oxen leader and the one named Researcher both groaned loudly. “No! No, never.” The bull male looked to the one called Researcher. “Thinker-Birther, transmit to them images of our wild cousins from Metropia. Perhaps that will help.”

“Transmitting,” said Researcher, whose personal name seemed to be Thinker-Birther.

A third image appeared on the front screen. It showed a herd of forty or so Boo quadrupeds gathered in a cluster of mud and rock huts, with a central fire pit. Male and female Boo oxen moved about the central plaza of the simple village, speaking to each other, making pottery with swift movements of their tongue-fingers, and even weaving cloth on a loom affixed to a tree trunk. A metal pedestal stood to one side of the plaza. It was ignored by everyone. None of the Boo oxen had the yellow-white fleshy mass resting atop their skulls. Jack looked to the image of the ship captain.

“Herd Master, please do not approach our ships closer than the width of the smaller continent on Comfort. That will allow our human herd to avoid stampeding. Or reacting in fear.” The holo of Maureen showed her offering him a thumbs-up gesture. “What is the function of the metal pedestal in the village plaza?”

Herd Master gave a low moan. “Your fear recedes? Good. The pedestal is a communications device. For our cousins to call us in case of disease, or natural disaster. It is their world also.”

Jack felt relief. Treating someone different than yourself, someone who was perhaps less smart, as being as important as yourself was the lesson he’d learned on the laps of his Mom and Dad. “Herd Master, your assurances are accepted. We humans are willing to visit you and your herd mates in person. Perhaps on one of the space habitats you have in orbit above Comfort?”

The BooMak’s yellow eyes blinked rapidly. “A visit by you humans is welcome. We wish to learn more about the universe beyond our star and Comfort. These Hunters of the Great Dark do not sound like . . . neighbors we would choose to meet.”

Jack looked up at the images of his allies, all of whom had trusted him to handle this suddenly volatile First Contact. “Hideyoshi, please join me and Maureen when we debark onto their station.” He looked back to the bull leader of the BooMak. “Herd Master, to which station do we travel? And should our entire ship herd come visit, or just the three ships that are our scouts for the larger herd?”

The Alien’s shoulders tensed once more, then eased. “Bring all your herd ships. We have but nine ships in our herd space. Too few to surround you. We BooMak choose to share our territory with you Humans in the expectation that you will leave to rejoin your distant home herd.”

Jack grinned. “Yes, we do grow homesick on this journey. But we would share with you our story of fighting against these predator Hunters, much like your herds join together to fight the yellow sharp teeth animals. We seek a joining of the herds of other thinking peoples into what we call the Freedom Alliance.”

“A herd that roams the stars?” grunted the Herd Master. “My herd aboard our ship
Green Grass
will welcome you at our equatorial watering hole station. All of your herd are welcome. Perhaps you will share with my Researcher imagery of the lifeforms on your home planet. She is obsessed with learning such, now that she knows self-aware life exists beyond Comfort.”

Jack waved at the shaggy Alien. “I leave this conversation to guide my herd to your watering hole.” He gestured to Denise to shut off the broadcast.

“Fine job you did, my Jack,” said Nikola from behind him.

He slumped in his seat. “Maybe so. Right now I could use a swig of booze. Anyone willing to get their captain a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label scotch?”

“I will,” called Blodwen.

Two hands gripped his shoulders and kneaded his tense muscles. “Feel better?” asked Nikola.

Jack closed his eyes, not giving a damn what any watching ship captain thought of his taking a break. “Good it is. More?”

She laughed musically, then resumed kneading his tight, tense muscles.

He had solved one mystery. The second mystery remained. Would these four-footed, two-brained Aliens join his Freedom Alliance? And if they did, would they know how to fight an enemy beyond stampeding against it?

♦   ♦   ♦

Jack looked at the wooden box that contained nine bottles with caps on them. They were BooMak booze every bit as good as Johnny Walker scotch or the Wild Turkey bourbon of Kentucky. He should know. Drinking two bottles in sequence had left him with a doozer of a hangover! Nikola had guided him from the park area of the equatorial station back to the
Uhuru
and their roomsuite. He’d fallen onto their water bed, feeling buzzed beyond belief. He dimly recalled her pulling off his boots, jumpsuit and underclothing. Nothing else had imprinted on his mind until he’d woken this morning, finding himself alone in their bed, with only the goldfish in their small aquarium to keep him company. And today was the day of their departure from the BooMak system. A knock on his slidedoor sounded.

“Yes? Come in,” he called, loudly enough to be heard in the Spine hallway.

The door slid open and in walked Max. Who was alone for once. Blodwen had to be somewhere near, though. His fellow survivor of the Rizen combat challenge had become happily glued to her in their love at first sight relationship. His buddy noticed the box he held and grinned.

“Your souvenir from visiting this system?”

Jack nodded. “Just so. Plus there are ten more cartons in the storage hold. For barter trade on Mathilde. I know a few commerce raider captains who might like the buzz this stuff gives you!”

Max stopped at the foot of the bed that Jack sat on. His buddy put hairy thumbs in his brown leather belt and grinned big. “Well, me and Archibald did good in trading the Tech details of our antimatter beamer and the Alcubierre drive shell module to our shaggy friends. While the BooMak have ship-size lasers they use for mining on the local moon, their ships had no other weapons. They would have been easy takeovers by the Hunters of the Great Dark. Now, not so.”

Jack put his bottle of BooMak booze on the end table next to his bed and stood up. He gave thanks he’d dressed in his ship leotard, tool belt and fanny pack before he’d taken to admiring the carton of booze. While Max would not have been bothered, still, the stocky, heavily muscled man was his co-partner in this Freedom Alliance thing. Looking less than ‘fleet captain’ formal might disappoint his buddy.