Spindrift (53 page)

“And we're not ready to join the club yet,” Ramirez said.

“No. Not yet.” Jas hesitated, as if picking hisher words carefully, and once again Emily was struck by how reticent heshe could be. Apparently the
hjadd
, as friendly as they might seem, were guarded about what they shared with other races. “We know the coordinates of your starbridge at 47 Ursae Majoris. They have been entered into your ship's guidance system. Once your craft makes the jump, the coordinates for the
Talus qua'spah
will be automatically eradicated from its memory, eliminating any chance that humankind will be able retrace its steps here. In that way, our security will be assured…or at least until we are prepared to trust you.”

“But…” Emily shook her head. “Why not Earth? That's our homeworld, after all.”

“To demonstrate that we have no intentions of invading your own planet. Trust should be mutually achieved.” Jas gazed at her with what seemed to be infinite patience. “This is only the prelude to first contact among our races. Your colony affords us a neutral meeting place. Until then, though, we have much to learn about one another. Which is why we ask you to be our intermediaries.”

An immense weight settled upon Emily's shoulders. She glanced at Ted, then at Jared; even without their saying so, she knew from the expressions on their faces that they felt the impact of hisher words.

“That's…you ask m uch of us,” Harker stammered. “We barely understand your race, or the
Talus
. You probably don't know much about us, either. We can't…”

“Of course not.” Again, a stuttering hiss that may have been a laugh. “This is why I am making the journey with you.”

“You're…?” Harker's mouth f ell open. “We don't…I mean, we can't…”

“As I said earlier, I have been designated the Prime Emissary. This is why I have taken the effort personally to introduce myself to you.” Jas waved a hand toward the window. “As for my accommodations, your craft has already been refurbished to suit my requirements.”

“But…” Emily shook her head. “If you can't return, then how can we…?”

“If your kind wishes to join the
Talus
, it will find the ways and means to construct suitable dwellings.” Again, the
hjadd
hesitated. “The risk is mine to assume. Your race may choose to murder me, just as your Captain Lawrence attempted to destroy our ship…”

“That was an accident,” Harker insisted.

“Then I will discover if that is so and not simply the reaction of a hostile and immature species.” Heshe paused. “Will you accept me and our offer for contact? Or should we simply send you back to your own kind and regard your race as one best left alone?”

Emily started to open her mouth, then realized that she couldn't speak for the others. Instead, she looked around at Ted, then Jared. The three of them studied one another for a few moments; for once, no one argued.

“We accept,” Harker said at last, then he paused. “But…”

“Yes?” Jas's faceplate moved toward him. “A question?”

“If we're supposed to supply accommodations for you once we reach Coyote…47 Ursae Majoris, that is…then how can we…?” He shook his head. “How can we feed you, for starters?”

The
hjadd
made a snuffling sound that Emily was at loss to interpret. “Our organisms aren't as dissimilar as you might believe,” heshe said. “When we found your craft, we discovered within it a sample of a vegetable substance that we found quite palatable, even stimulating.” Reaching into a pocket of hisher suit, Jas groped for something. “In fact, we believe this may prove to be a major source of trade between our races.”

Coffee
, Emily thought.
They must have found our coffee supply.
“I'm sure that can be arranged,” she said. “It's something that we grow in abundance, so we shouldn't have…”

Her voice trailed off as Jas withdrew a familiar plastic canister. Harker's face became almost as red as the patterns of his robe, and Ramirez's robe assumed an aquamarine hue that suited the grin that crept across his face, as the
hjadd
carefully opened the canister and allowed a few precious flakes of cannabis to fall into the palm of hisher glove.

“Delicious,” Jas said. “May we have more?”

 

The propulsion and navigation systems weren't the only things different about the
Maria Celeste
. As soon as she walked up the ramp, Emily saw that the entire aft compartment had been rebuilt. Where there had once been four emergency biostasis cells now lay an airtight bulkhead separating the rear of the shuttle from the cockpit. A small hatch, just the right height for a
hjadd
but short enough that an average-size human would have to bend in order to enter it, had been placed in the center of the bulkhead.

“My cabin,” Jas said, as if an explanation was necessary. “Many apologies for the alterations made by my people, but they were necessary.”

“Understandable. You'll need a place to live, after all.” Emily ducked her head to peer through the open hatch. On the other side of what appeared to be a closet-size airlock lay a small stateroom; she spotted what looked like a child-size waterbed, along with a wing chair and a miniature desk. It was even more cramped than her cabin aboard the
Galileo
. “Rather tight, don't you think?”

“My people are accustomed to close surroundings. Its life-support system will sustain me almost indefinitely, or at least until more satisfactory shelter is provided by your colony.” Heshe hesitated. “Please refrain from entering my quarters. I consider my privacy to be important to the success of my mission.”

“Of course.” Harker stood off to one side, his arms folded together across his
sha
. “You're accepting a lot on faith, aren't you? We can't even be sure how they'll react to us, let alone you.”

“Then this will be an interesting journey for all of us.” Turning away from hisher cabin, Jas gestured toward the cockpit. “My belongings have already been placed aboard. If you are ready, then we will make our departure.”

Startled, Emily stared at himher. “Now? That's it?”

“Certainly.” The
hjadd
's helmet rose slightly upon hisher neck. “Is there a reason why we should not go?”

“Isn't there anyone you need to see before you leave?” Harker glanced toward the ramp. “A last meeting with your…um, High Council, maybe. Farewells to any family and friends.”

The
hjadd
said nothing for a moment “No. All my affairs have already been settled.” A slow hiss. “My people do not put much ceremony in departures or arrivals. We leave, we are gone for a while, we come back. That is the way of things.”

“But…” Ramirez hesitated, as if not quite knowing how to express himself. “We've only met you. No others of your kind. Don't they wish to meet us as well?”

“No.” This came as a flat statement, almost a dismissal. “If and when the time comes that further contact with our kind is acceptable, then you will meet other
hjadd
. Until then, I am the Prime Emissary of both my kind and the
Talus
.”

Emily nodded. It wasn't hard to read between the lines. Until Jas established favorable relations with this newly discovered species, the
hjadd
, as well as the rest of the
Talus
, would minimize their contact as much as possible. But just as Mahamatasja Jas Sa-Fhadda was putting himherself at considerable risk, so were they. If something were to happen to himher…

“Are you ready?” Jas asked, hisher helmet revolving toward the cockpit. “My people are waiting to open the starbridge.”

“Of course. By all means.” Trading a wary glance with Harker, Emily turned toward the flight deck.

The cockpit looked much the same as she'd left it, yet upon closer inspection she saw that it had undergone its own modifications. One of the passenger seats had been removed—remembering that this was where Cruz had sat, she felt a surge of remorse—and replaced with a sleek couch contoured to match Jas's broad body and high neck. The left-side console in front of the pilot's seat had been altered as well; the engine control panels and navigation comps were gone, with black, reflective slates in their place. Otherwise, everything else appeared to be untouched.

“Your ship will operate much the same way as it did before,” Jas said, standing behind her in the aisle while she and the others fastened their harnesses. “The only difference is that you will not need to activate the engines or program your computers. All these requirements have already been preset within the ship's internal control and guidance system.”

“So what do I do?” Emily found her headset dangling from the control yoke. Despite the fact that it was a half century old, the foam pads of the earpieces looked as if they'd been replaced only yesterday. Indeed, except for the alterations,
Maria
's cockpit had been perfectly preserved, without even a mote of dust to be seen. “Just…take off and fly? Simple as that?”

“Simple as that.” Jas moved to hisher seat, carefully settled into it. “If you have forgotten how to operate your vehicle, of course, or otherwise lack the confidence…”

“Careful.” Harker twisted around in his seat to favor the
hjadd
with a cold stare. “You're talking to the best pilot the European Space Agency has ever seen.”

“Pardon me.” A slow, stuttering hiss from their passenger. “I did not mean to insult.”

Keeping a straight face, Ted gave Emily a sly wink. “That's all right,” she said. “Just don't let it happen again.” Then she reached forward to the instrument panel and switched it on.

Its lights and screens lit at once, with no trace of a flicker. As an afterthought, she accessed the backup flight recorder; a quick glance at the menu showed her that its memory was intact, with no trace of erasure or core erosion. Apparently the
hjadd
, after probing the system, had decided to leave it alone; the last date registered on the automatic logbook was January 9, 2291, the day the
Galileo
was destroyed and her survivors had gone into emergency biostasis aboard the shuttle.

Emily shared a glance with Ted. Noticing the same thing, he quietly nodded. Whatever else lay before them, at least they had a way to prove their story. She took a deep breath, then pulled on her headset and proceeded with the prelaunch checklist.

She soon discovered that, although the engine ignition sequence was missing, there was no indication that the new propulsion system was active. Yet when she raised the gangway and pressurized the cabin, she glanced through the windows and saw that the hangar ceiling had opened like an enormous clamshell. Above them was a jet-black sky sprinkled with countless stars, the brightest ones forming constellations no human eye had ever seen before.

“We are ready to depart.” Jas was nestled within hisher couch, amorphous flanges holding hisher body secure. “You may launch whenever you are ready.”

“Thanks.” Emily let out her breath. Then, for no other reason than a stubborn desire to retain tradition, she touched her mike wand. “This is EAS
Maria Celeste
,” she said to whoever might be listening. “Requesting permission to lift off.”

She waited a moment. No response. She looked over at Ted, and he shrugged. “All right, then,” she murmured, then wrapped her hands around the yoke and pulled back.

With only the faintest of hums, and almost no sense of motion, the shuttle rose from the hangar floor. It almost seemed as if she were flying a simulator, only without the fabricated rocking that a simulator would make to give verisimilitude to the experience. The ascent was smooth, eerie in its almost total silence; the curved walls of the hangar fell away below them, and suddenly she found herself rising into space.

“Ohhh…” Harker's voice was little more than a whisper. “Will you look at that?”

All around them, for nearly as far as they could see, lay the immense structure that they'd glimpsed from
Galileo
's reconstructed library. Like a vast and measureless molecule of some alien crystal,
Talus qua'spah
stretched out to all sides of them, scintillating in the sunlight reflected from the aquamarine world around which it orbited. Spars and spheres, buttresses and towers, rings and cylinders, all connected to one another by an infinitely complex network of struts and beams.

“Home,” Jas said, gazing out the window beside himher. For a moment, hisher voice sounded forlorn. Glancing over her shoulder at her new passenger, it seemed to Emily as if the
hjadd
was bidding farewell to a familiar place.

“Where to now?” she asked.