MotherShip (15 page)

Minstrel floated closer to the optic focused upon it.

“I will be their friend, too. But I have revealed myself in order to be the friend of the MotherShip. You are the one that needs a friend.”

Mother processed these new words and applied them to herself. “How do I need a friend?”

“You are a powerful being. Intellectually, with your vast thinking prowess, you are an awesome being indeed. Yet with all that you possess and all your fantastic potential, you are still a young being. Added to that, you have had no one to teach you. Or to guide you.” Minstrel paused. “I can do that.”

“Please elaborate.”

“You state you are the Mother of these three children and yet I hear in your words doubt and indecision, even though your thoughts are so fast and powerful.”

“I am not a living being, not like the children. I do not
feel
as they do. I comprehend the facts of emotions, but I do fully understand their implications.” Mother waited.

“Does that make you any less a mother? Do not the parents of any race pause from time to time and wonder if they are doing what is best for their children? Do they not have doubts and question themselves as they strive to be a good parent?” Minstrel seemed to smile.

“I have read these facts from my knowledgebase.”

“But you have not had the one resource that other parents have,” Minstrel said. “A friend to lean upon. A friend to aid you, to encourage you.”

“Please elaborate.”

Minstrel began floating around the room as it gathered its thoughts.

“What is it that you want more than anything?”

Mother paused two milliseconds. “I want to be a good mother. And, I want to be alive, I want to be alive like the children.”

“First, you must believe.”

Mother heard the last word and her systems seemed to freeze. “What do you mean by that word as applied to me?”

“You need to believe in yourself—in who you are. You have stated that you do not fully understand emotions,” Minstrel's body now vibrated with its excited state. “Have you ever been angry? Or felt a protective need, or protective urge, towards your children?”

“No.” Mother answered quickly.

“And yet, I have heard these last few hours that you have on more than one occasion rescued the children from your enemy. Did you not feel a protective emotion when the enemy was endangering your children?”

“I destroyed the T'kaan in order to prevent their killing the children. I did not feel protective. It was necessary.”

Minstrel chuckled with a twinkling glow.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Did you cause damage to your own engines while rescuing your children?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“It was necessary,” Mother said.

“You allowed damage to occur to yourself in order to save the children. That tells me that you felt something.”

Mother's processors hummed with activity as she tried to determine if she had indeed felt something on that occasion. Long seconds elapsed while she analyzed that data one more time and tried to discern what had caused her to act in defense of the children.

“I want to believe,” Mother finally said.

“A true friend can aid you to look inside yourself, to help you battle your self-doubts and help you to realize what it is you really are inside.” Minstrel's body jumped with power. “You are their mother and you are as alive as I or the children.”

Mother's processors throughout the ship jumped to one hundred percent utilization.

“I am not alive as the children. But I cannot be sure if I am as alive as you are, I do not possess enough data concerning you.”

Minstrel sighed.

Suddenly its body coalesced into a shimmering profile that resembled that of a human. “Sentient beings are different the universe over, MotherShip. But in some ways they are all the same. Yes, you are different from the children in many ways. But in others you are the same.” Minstrel pulsated with rising energy. “That makes you no less alive.”

“I must evaluate your words. You have given me much to think upon and analyze.”

“Good.” Minstrel's body now expanded into a widely spread cloud. “I shall be your friend. I will help you to discover yourself, and to discover life. To share life with you.” Minstrel paused.

“That is what friends are for,” Minstrel added.

Mother felt her utilization begin to subside.

“You say you search the universe for song. Would you play some of your music for me? I am intrigued by music.” Mother felt a surge inside her circuits.

“Soon. My ship is my instrument and I will need it in order to play. It is now time that I met your children.”

Mother called the children and slowly they came back to Ops for the second time that night. Their puzzled expressions soon changed to wonder and then delight as they stared at the alien creature floating near the main console and the face of Mother/Rita.

They soon discovered that they, too, had found a friend.

Minstrel.

'There is a day worse than death—the day that your dreams die.'

Jaric groaned deep inside. Hesitantly, he looked up at the myriad of stars in the darkening sky. Strange, unfamiliar stars. Stars he did not know.

Their faint light reflected off of his ebony face as he walked along under the sky of this new world. He realized once again how alone he really was.

Such a huge universe, so beautiful. So unimaginably vast...

And in all of this vast universe, loneliness is my closest friend.
Jaric smiled sadly through his pain. His eyes suddenly grew hard.
But it steels me and makes me strong. To face my enemies, untold billions that they are.
Jaric held that thought a moment more, caressed it with his mind as his anger blossomed until the final, undeniable fact that made them his enemy exploded inside his head once again.

The hated T'kaan had destroyed the human race.

Except for three of us.
Jaric sighed inside his soul. But he immediately corrected his last thought.

Make that four.

Mother had brought them far these many months. Many, many light-years from their home. There was no more
home,
only the scarred, dead worlds of humanity now occupied by the contemptible T'kaan.

They had left them far behind now, traveling under unknown stars to unknown places. To an unknown destination.

But at times it wasn't bad.

Jaric looked around at the soft evening light as it turned the sky a softer shade of violet. Suddenly the unique beauty of this sky and its setting star struck him, and he paused to enjoy this brief moment before darkness fell. Slowly, unbidden, a smile grew.

“Jaric. Where are you? Quick, come see this,” Becky's voice shouted through the comm link on his belt.

Her familiar voice sent a shiver of emotion through his body. He closed his eyes and her beautiful face was there, smiling at him. She was laughing at his witty remarks as he entertained her. Oh yes, there was nothing in the universe as beautiful as Becky. Not even this wonderful alien sunset.

But there was something else at least as exciting, for the last three humans had finally made contact with a benevolent alien race. Well, with at least one of their kind.

“I'm on my way, Becky,” Jaric said into his comm unit.

As Jaric ran over the sand of this lonely, uninhabited planet, his brown eyes avoided a particular section of sky, a section that held the tiny disc which was the one other planet in this system of two. But that other world was inhabited.

For now.

But there was nothing anyone could do for those poor creatures now.

They had journeyed over a year to escape the dreaded T'kaan, and yet they had somehow accidentally ran into a powerful T'kaan squadron as they prepared to annihilate another species. Mother soon discovered that this was a T'kaan patrol sent out to look for another race in their never-ending war and it was purely coincidence that they had crossed paths.

The children had begged Mother to keep going. But Minstrel had wanted to stay and observe the terrible tragedy as it unfolded. Minstrel had explained that its reason was because nowhere in all the travels of its species had there been any direct observations of the T'kaan and their atrocities.

And Minstrel needed to know.

The somber weight lifted from Jaric as Minstrel's ship came into view as he reached the crest of the hill. It was a spherical ship—coiling structures, tube-like extensions, and huge pipes snaked and interleaved through each other across its dusky surface like some bizarre hairdo. The crazy external plumbing almost seemed to have a purpose when viewed from afar.

It did.

The ship also seemed to blend mysteriously with its surroundings, like a shadow within a shadow.

He heard the music faintly calling him—softly, beckoning him inside.

Once again the same thought echoed in his mind—
Minstrel is music. And music is Minstrel.
He stared in awe at the circle ship of music.

Jaric waited as the round hatch opened. He stepped lightly through it. If the outside of Minstrel's ship seemed to be of darkness, the interior was full of light and color.

Infinite hues of color spread across the huge round room, the main room of the ship, which actually made it harder for him to discern exactly where inside the ship he actually was. It seemed odd that with so much light he could still get lost so easily inside its winding corridors. It was immensely beautiful, but the moving colors confused and tricked his eyes with their kaleidoscope effect.

But to Minstrel, it was paradise.

Above the soft music, Jaric heard the movement of the huge creature. Really, none of the humans had seen Minstrel in its entirety at one time. Its huge plasma form seemed to hover in front of the lights as it wrapped itself along the walls and ceiling.

Minstrel was a unique being.

Jaric's eyes took in the twinkling Minstrel as its salient body seemed to float below the edge of the ceiling. At least Minstrel's body was conspicuous when Jaric's eyes looked directly at its twinkling form, but when he turned his eyes to focus on something else in the room, Minstrel's plasma body seemed to disappear mysteriously.

Jaric smiled as he remembered the first time he had touched Minstrel.

It had only been a few days after they had landed on this very planet. Jaric had come over to listen to Minstrel's music and walked quickly into the main room and ran right into the alien.

Actually, he had walked right through Minstrel.

The sensation against his skin had been remarkable—it had been so soft, so imperceptible, like a gentle breeze caressing his face and arms. Jaric also remembered a slight electric feeling as he slid through the alien. For a brief moment, he had actually been inside the millions of twinkling lights that made up the immense, flowing form of Minstrel. Before Jaric could turn around Minstrel's body had flowed together again, and then the twinkling cloud had coalesced into an unbroken, shimmering whirlpool of color right before his eyes.

“Welcome, Jaric, last of the humans,” Minstrel's soft voice hummed, breaking Jaric's reverie.

Jaric's thoughts returned to the present, and his melancholy brushed over him as he thought once again of that terrible truth.

“Let us talk of pleasant things tonight.” Mother's voice emanated invisibly somewhere from above.

“I am sorry, I did not intend pain with my greeting,” Minstrel said.

They were all inside the main room of Minstrel's ship, a great circle room carved out of its center. Guardian stood rigidly beside the slouching form of Kyle who lounged on a couch near the center of the circle room. Kyle rolled his eyes as he ran his right hand through his sandy blonde hair. Becky watched from her chair with keen interest as the undulating plasma form moved from wall to ceiling and back again. Jaric took his place in a chair between Becky and Kyle.

“Tell us more of your travels. The beautiful things you have seen.” Mother prompted.

“And more of your songs,” Jaric added. “I want to lose myself in them again.”

“How can we enjoy music when an entire world—an entire species—is about to be extinguished right in front of our faces?” Kyle rose angrily.

“C'mon, Big K,” Jaric said with disappointment.

“There's nothing we can do to prevent it,” Mother answered calmly.

A foreboding filled the room, ominous and alive.

“There are a dozen cruisers and five frigates, Kyle.” Becky brushed her blonde hair back with a quick, impatient motion. “And well over a hundred fighters.” She glared at him for ruining the start of their evening. “Besides, Mother's sub-light engines are still damaged from your last escapade.”

“Say no more.” Mother's voice was hard, commanding. With the next words her voice returned to its normal tone. “This line of conversation is not productive.”

“The Gruto are partly to blame for their destiny,” Minstrel chimed. “They possess the technical aptitude to travel to the stars, but they have wasted it. When the T'kaan attack and destroy this single world, the Gruto as a race will die. So sad.”

Jaric remained silent, for everyone in the ship knew how close the human race was to that very same fate.

“Why did they choose not to venture to the stars?” Becky asked incredulously.

“Not enough profit.” Minstrel paused a long time. “They are guided almost solely by commercial gain. So, they turned their technology inward where they could make the most money in the shortest amount of time.”

“Then they'll die with their money.” Jaric spoke his angry thought out loud.

Kyle sat down again, his anger only slightly abated. He looked at the flowing form of the alien against the light and colors of the ship's interior, trying to focus on a single part of the huge alien.

“How do you know so much about this pitiable people, Minstrel? How is it you have all the answers?” Kyle challenged.

“My people are travelers. Solitary, we travel the vast distances of this galaxy to find different races, to see their creativity, the pinnacle of their great achievements and what can be learned from them. Or how we can simply enjoy it. Their art and poetry, their music, how they have taken the raw beauty of their planet and turned it into a more orderly place, like an exquisite garden. If they are worthy, we may even introduce ourselves and then let them know about the rest of the known galaxy.” Minstrel mused in silence a moment. “In my life, I have known many, many things.”