Sandra rubbed her palms against her face, then started to look around the room. One of the advantages of a consumer society...it had a ton of gadgets. There was a large stereo-cassette player that looked like it had come right from one of the old catalogues. She walked to it, ran her hands along the sides, then felt a ping of excitement. There! That was...YES! She worked her fingers into the wood paneling, yanked it open, hard, and as the wooden paneling swung outwards, she knelt down and saw just a profusion of vacuum tubes and wires and components.
"Bearskins and stone knives," she whispered. "But it'll do the
fucking trick."
***
"Dr. H'ssanon, you presume far, far, far too much!"
"Presume that we might have a shred of a soul left? A single hint of scientific integrity? A single particle of forward thinking?" Cedak asked, glaring up at the directorate board - the five or six (it was hard to tell, they were all shadowed and sitting behind a desk at the far end of the board) members of the War Department who managed this entire xenobiological lab. The only member of the board that wasn't sitting was the quiet guy who was standing near the back of the room, shrouded and smoking a cigarette.
"You have allowed your...proximity to these aliens to cloud your objective judgment," one of the members said. "The Game serves as a means by which we help to appease our people's finely honed need for justice."
"For blood, you mean?" Cedak said.
"That's quite ENOUGH, Dr. H'ssanon! You are dismissed, and be aware, we have taken your precautions under advisement and find them quite
lacking in scientific and strategic rigor."
Cedak growled, then stalked from the room.
The door closed.
The man with the cigarette blew out a small trail of white fog into the air, then said: "Dr. H'ssanon may need to be dealt with."
***
"That's not good," Lera said, as she and Tai'lon looked down together at the scanning output The orbital view of the industrial scale of the extraction going on on the planet was...
breathtaking. And not in a good way. They'd already seen the big picture, and seen the impact on the planet on the surface, but going over it all with a fine toothed comb from orbit was really sinking it into Lera's brain just how terrible things were going to get in...fifty or so years if nothing was changed.
A planet was a big place. It took an awful lot of hard work to destroy it - it had taken centuries of slowly ramping up industrialization for the human race to have managed this: Oil rigs by the dozens, several burning in perpetuity, the locals seeming to be unable to effectively fight the fires, massive tankers bringing in dredged up loads of fish from the oceans that had not yet been touched by the extraction economics of the main archipelago.
"I believe this technology is not native to the planet," Tai'lon said. "In fact, I think it is Nariene in origin."
"How do you come to this conclusion, Comrade Tai'lon?" Lera asked, her brow knitting. "It is capitalist inefficiency writ large, but such foolishness was invented by many people across the galaxy. It is a seemingly unavoidable step in social evolution."
Tai'lon paused. "Most people call me Mr…"
"Most people on this ship are too ready to resurrect bourgeois mannerisms. Comrade is much more egalitarian, if you're going to stick to not using your first name," Lera said, nodding. "Except for when talking to Sandy, of course."
"Miss Robinson uses my first name irrespective of my desires…" Tai'lon said, trying to sound as if he wasn't deeply happy about that and not quite managing it. Then, coughing, he pointed "The islands that are settled are heavily populated, but extremely centralized. If you look, the distance between this inhabited archipelago and this completely uninhabited one…" He pointed. "That's a nearly islandless ocean that is, comparably, almost sixty two percent larger than the Pacific ocean crossed by your Polynesian explorers."
"So you think settled recently, then?" Lera said, "That probably isn't a journey you could make easily with sails, right."
"Indeed. And there are multiple confusing lapses in technological development. They seem to have
no fission reactors, and no mines for radioactive, no plutonium enrichment, no atomic weaponry, no atomic weapon testing in the atmosphere. The only radioactive content is from coal spills and lead particles consistent with Nariene engines. Furthermore, the outer edges of the settled archipelago are still showing the kind of construction you'd see in boom towns, not in places populated for centuries."
Lera nodded, slowly. "The ecological damage does seem very centralized."
"Thus, I believe that the Selkath were, as little as fifty to a hundred years ago...weren't in possession of petrochemical and various other industrial technologies. Perhaps not even machines powered by coal."
"... they've been
uplifted." Lera said, excited for a moment, then her face fell, "While in their interrogation center, we were observed by a Protectorate Park Ranger…"
"That is what got me thinking on this line, Valerya Vitalievna," Tai'lon said. "It's entirely in-line with the practices of the Protectorate Forign Affairs office to sell the same thing that killed their planet to someone else, get them hooked, then manipulate them…"
"But why? What are the Nariene getting out of it? Just buying the excess petrochemicals?" Lera said, "That doesn't make any sense."
"It doesn't. Like us, the Nariene can supply their oil needs on their own. Moreover, for the investment to be worth it, we'd have to see much more infrastructure. There'd be orbital stations, we'd see tankers everywhere, our instruments would detect the vast quantities of irradiated mercury Nariene shipping tends to leave in its wake. If they're taking anything, it's in small amounts and infrequently."
Lera leaned back to the scope, twisting one of the dials as she stared down, then there was a buzz from one of the consoles.
"... that's a boosted signal, aimed up. Communication from the surface." she said, clicking the panel.
***
"Come in, Newton-2, come in," Sandy whispered.
"...Sandy!?" Lera's voice cracked and popped through the crude receiver that Sandy had managed to piece together. Sandy almost cried with joy. Instead, she leaned in close.
"It's good to hear you, Lera," she said. "Why are you picking up?"
"I am observing the planet and thus am attuned to incoming signals at a far greater alacrity than normal. Where are you? Are you hurt? Are you in danger?" She paused. "Oh! Switching to group com!"
"Report, Robinson," the captain's confident voice comes in - even at this time, she sounds like it's no big deal. Just hearing her makes Sandy feel calmer and more confident.
"I am still at the base," Sandy said. "Fortunately, I have a man on the inside."
"Is that innuendo?" Lera asked.
"...yes," Sandy said, chuckling.
"I will have a high five prepared for when you return," Lera said.
"I see that your diplomatic aptitude once again carries the day," Tai'lon said. "Have you found any information or just need us to telemat you out?"
"I have found information," Sandy said. "Firstly, the Narine are here, and they're
stealing espers from the Selkath. Uh, and the Selkath are participating. There's an agent-" She stopped, her head lifting. "Shit, footseps. I have to sign off - don't risk telematting me out yet, my contact will be in danger if that happens. Is Nhi alright?"
"She's safe. We'll hold off until you give the all clear, but you said a military base?" the Captain asked.
"Yes! Big one!"
"Good luck, Sandrochka!" Lera added before Sandy shut the communicator down, then started to tuck everything away - moments before the door opened. She turned, smiling, expecting to do some flirting with Cedak.
Instead…
Tak Ud stands at the door, flanked by Selkath guards, holding a Nariene hand scanner in his hands. Behind him, a bond and black bagged Cedak is struggling in the grasp of more guards. In the other hand, the Nariene park ranger was holding a sleek, spined looking gun - Narine tech, without a doubt.
"Told you," Tak Ud said. "You can never trust these reds."
The gun in his hand flashed.
And Sandy knew no more.
***
Nhi squared her shoulders and closed the communicator down. She had gone to the academy for this kind of delicate, careful sort of interaction. She could do it! And so, she stood up, then looked through the door and perked her ears. She could hear faint sounds of movement in the house - it was past the kids' bedtime, but the adults were still up and about. She opened the door and stepped out, acting casually, as if she was just out to get a snack. This was how she found Riak as he was downstairs - and…
"Oh, ah, hello Uze," Riak said, hastily covering his bare chest with his arms. "I didn't know you were up. Uh. I hope I didn't wake you." He bumped his hip against the fridge door, swinging the softly purring unit shut. Nhi shook her head.
"No, no, it's kinda hard to sleep, that's all," she said, while Riak set the platter of cold cuts that he had been retrieving down. He looked faintly uncomfortable - and after a moment, Nhi figured it out: He was a married man, with a young (and according to Lera, quite cute) girl of unknown providence, while wearing what appeared to be pants and nothing else.
"Yeah," he said, nodding. "I know how that feels."
"Bad dreams?" Nhi asked.
Riak paused. His hand was holding a small knife, about to slice the cold cuts up. He set it down, then looked at her, biting his lower lip. "...can...you keep a secret, Uze? Since, well, you're leaving tomorrow and…"
Nhi smiled. "Cross my heart and hope to die," she said. "You've been such an amazingly kind and generous host, I think keeping a secret is the
least I can do. Unless it's...murder. It's not murder, right?"
Riak chuckled. "No, it's not murder…"
"And not anything to do with Tessiz? Cause she's sweet-"
"No, no, it's nothing to do with Tessiz," Riak said, shaking his head. "I love her to bits, I'd...that's...why I want...ugh." He rubbed his hand against his face. "You know, I shouldn't have brought anything up?"
Nhi sighed. "I…" she thought for a bit. "If it's something important, that you want to talk to her about, maybe it'll help to bounce it off me. Then I can make sure you can tell her about it without her freaking out about anything."
"That's just it, there's no way I can," Riak said.
Nhi paused, then took a gamble. "...it's...those dreams that oil drillers get, isn't it?"
Riak looked down at the knife and the cold cuts, like they would hold the answer to everything he was looking for. His tail twitched. Then, slowly, he nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I guess you have drillers in your family?"
Nhi nodded.
"They're always the same - I'm...swimming. Naked." He says. "Without any gear, down towards a big...bright light, and there's this song...it's really pretty, you know. And then I hear the song get...distorted and sad. And the light starts to turn red and I feel like I've done something really bad - something horrible, something that I'll never be forgiven for. Then...that's usually when I wake up." He frowned. "Do you think Shona's...real? That those crazy Shonites aren't just crazy, that there actually
is a god down there? Like...one that lives in the ocean, and not...everywhere?"
Nhi shrugged, very much out of her depths. However, she'd heard enough stories from the frontier to know that beings of impossible power lurking in unexpected places was not at all unprecedented.
"It's...possible," she said, "Right? Ocean's a big place."
"Yeah. Or maybe I'm going loonie and they're going to take me to the asylum and my family will never fucking see me again," Riak said, his voice growing bitter. "I mean...I don't
agree with the Shonites, but if that's their only choice, I can see why some start blowing up factories and stuff. I don't want to be a big hole in my kid's lives, I don't want to leave my wife to deal with this whole world by herself. I'm the kelpwinner of this house, Uze, you know?"
Nhi smiled...just a bit sadly. "I think you definitely need to talk to Tessiz then."
"But she'll just worry herself to death, then," Riak said.
"She's stronger than you think," Nhi said, confidently. "Trust me."
Riak sighed, then picked up his snack. "Right. Thanks, Uze. Sleep tight, all right?" he started past her, up the stairs. Nhi had no testing equipment on her, but a part of her was
confident that if she ran Riak through the esper tests, he'd rank on the scale. If whatever was sending him the dreams was very powerful, he was likely a very minor esper. If it was very weak, then he could be a very potent one. Either way, he had the natural aptitude to pick up on it…
This was big.
Nhi hurried to the communication equipment.
***
Captain Karantirova nodded as Tai'lon and Lera finished laying out what they, combined with Nhi, had discovered.
"Sandy is still undercover and we must assume she is safe or she would not have signaled us to keep away…" she paused, then sighed. "I am sure she has already formed emotional connections to this...Dr. H'ssanon already…" She trailed off into grumbling, which gave room for Jools to step in.
"And the Protectorate have definitely interfered with the planet's development, I have to agree with Mr. Sythe on that," Jools said. "With Sandy safe, in a known location, we need to deal with the espers and the entity before the Protectorate causes any more damage."
Karantirova sighed. "All right, let's put it to a shipwide vote on our plan of action. If there's a powerful esper in that ocean, the Protectorate will be absolutely
wild to get their hands on it...it may even be why they came here in the first place, for all we know. They have no innate aptitude espers as far as we know and are obsessed with studying as many alien espers as they can get. So, that god might be their whole goal on this planet…"
---
The goal now seems obvious: stop the Nariene, save the planet, retrieve your mission crew. What's the plan?
[ ] The Nariene are the real problem here. They have to have some kind of presence, and whatever they're doing to the espers probably isn't great. Find their base of operations, get information out of it, and broadcast it across the planet.
[ ] Openly contact the local government. Offer them the usual humanitarian bennies if they'll open up trade: Star Works can have a team out here in a month at the outside, setting them up for fusion powerplants and teaching them how to make air scrubbers. Why would they side with the Nariene when we can offer more? On the other hand… entrenched power doesn't tend to want to give it up.
[ ] Try to use Chrissy to find and make peaceful contact with this esper being and offer a diplomatic outreach to them and their followers, with a goal towards taking down the local government. After all, they're running a
bloodsport on TV as a way to entertain people, they can't be good guys.
[ ] Write In
