Family Law 2: The Long Voyage of the Little Fleet (54 page)

"Oh, I should have never taught you that word," Lee said, laughing. "It can get you in trouble."

* * *

The com alarm woke him up. They didn't activate the video, but the officer in command informed  him, "Captain, I think you might want to return to the flight deck. The pressure was steadily  dropping for a long time but then it was suddenly purged the rest of the way all at once."

"I'll be there in just a couple minutes. If you haven't yet, call my usual bridge crew and direct them to return. Please have the galley serve us coffee and sandwiches on the flight deck."

"Aye sir. I called Mr. Wong. I'll call the rest now," Abbott agreed.

Fenton looked at the com clock. He'd managed almost six hours of sleep. He'd functioned on a lot less than that many times in the past. His shoes went on and he sealed them, he clipped his portable com on his waistband, even if he likely wouldn't need it and exited the cabin. One of the perks of being the captain was he was forty meters from the bridge, hatch to hatch.

"I relieve you sir, thank you." Fenton thought Abbott or his crew might resent being relieved as soon as action started again, instead he saw relief painted on the man's face.

The rest of his bridge crew wandered in over the next few minutes, Summer coming in last with wet hair. He obviously had fallen straight to bed. He couldn't blame the man for his choice. Then they sat with nothing happening, which validated Summer's actions.

It was another twenty minutes before the great hatch opened to space and the gravity, slight though it was, disappeared. Bright light came in and painted the bulkhead in front of them but the star that produced it wasn't directly visible.

"Well, is this an invitation?" Fenton asked. "They aren't pushing us out with their little magic carpets. Not even a polite nudge like before to show what they'd prefer."

None of the crew voiced any opinion. Like the ones they'd relieved they were happy not to be responsible for action that would put the entire ship and crew at risk. That was the captain's burden.

"Mr. Wong take us out with some caution. We'll see what they have decided to share with us. If they brought us to a new place they must think it will be of interest to us. They are very speedy indeed, but even if they go off and leave us I can't imagine we are gone so far we can't find our way home."

The spectra of the star showed immediately it was a new one to them. When they cleared the hatch and rolled the ship slowly a planet came into view displaying a significant disk. It was without question a water world, and likely living. There were oceans and land and the usual patterns of clouds with which they were familiar. The land seemed to have areas tinted purple instead of green that might still be vegetation. They were not orbiting it but rather seemed to be ahead of in a stellar orbit. The huge starship did not move away, and Fenton felt like they were being tested to see what they would do.

"Let's take a look about shall we? Send out a couple pings, at a third power. That should be more than sufficient to paint anything in the immediate neighborhood. Let's see if they object to that. We certainly don't want to take the time to do a comprehensive optical survey."

The ping showed a cloud of ships around the world, hundreds of them. "Only about a third of the ships in orbit around that world are of the same class as the one that brought us here," Probity said. "There are ships smaller  than we've seen before, a few of a size we are familiar with, and some larger structures. I'm not sure if they are bigger ones are ships or orbital habitats."

"What's that coming around from behind the planet?" Summer asked.

Nobody replied. They watched as an arch grew detached from the horizon of the planet and grew large as it advanced. "Wow, that's a
huge
moon," Wong said in wonder.

"They
timed
it to show it to us coming out occultation like that," Summer insisted.

"That's to the good then I'd say," Captain Fenton said. "No matter how alien in thought they may be, now I know they have the gift of dramatic flair."

"I can't imagine what the tides would be like under a moon like that." Fenton said.

"Should we investigate the world further?" Wong asked, and then immediately regretted it.

Fenton considered it, pursing his lips, a look of intense concentration on his face.

"
No
, I don't think so. If they'd wanted us to get up close and friendly they'd have taken us into orbit around it. They're showing us what they are, but they still are reserved. We saw they didn't want us to approach too closely when they were trading with us too. They bunched up and backed off easily. I'm going to say it would be better not to be pushy right now. We'll take this record back. Do a star scan too, Mr. Hokkaido. Perhaps we can locate ourselves from the data. Then, when that is done position us back in our transport. Perhaps they'll do us the favor of returning us to the fleet."

"They made it look easy to set us on the deck light as a feather," Wong said apologetically, after they'd made jarring contact with the hold deck again. The aliens for some reason waited this time until they were repositioned to start applying the same slight field to hold them in place.

"Since you've never had to land
The Champion William
before, and she isn't designed to touch anything but a docking collar, I count any landing that doesn't breach pressure or have any important parts knocked off as a success," Fenton graciously allowed. Wong said nothing, still embarrassed. Nobody said anything as the slight gravity ramped up and the massive hatch slid closed.

"I know we are well served not to be jostled about," Summer allowed, "but I wish we had a screen or
something
to let us know what is going on. Are they that different from us that they could be carried off by strange aliens indifferent to what is happening and not be concerned?" he wondered.

* * *

Talker took Lee's hand again when they arrived at the port to board the shuttle. She was getting much better at reading Badger expressions and the looks they got holding hands was telling her a lot. She was finally understanding hand holding meant a great deal more to Badgers than Humans. Badgers looked at them and showed approved or not when they saw the clasped hands.

 She'd been touched by it as an intimate gesture when he first did it, but now she was seeing it as a public statement not a personal one. She experimented with initiating it when circumstances made them detach instead of waiting for him. He didn't object at all. In fact she was pretty sure, as her ability to read Talker's face in particular grew, that he was pleased when she did so.

She was embarrassed that she was considered news and that they had been singled out for attention by groups with camera rigs who kept their distance but took footage of them shopping and waiting to board the shuttle. She just wasn't comfortable being treated as something special. She was sure Gordon would make fun of her modesty. Talker was right. She was egalitarian down to her very core. It was somewhat comforting to realize it was beneficial not only for her species, but for their whole group of races and cultures to be seen as something positive by these new people. It was revealing too that when she thought back, that there had been not many, but a few looks that had been disapproving. A glance at their hands and then a frosty look. On the other hand, even with a few disapproving looks,  she felt
safer
here with Talker than she would have on Earth.

Thinking of all that and weighing the implications she gave Talker's hand a sudden squeeze. He looked up at her in clear surprise. She took it for an unsaid question.

"I do thank you, and value your acceptance."

"Whatever made you say that now?" he asked, looking about. "Did something happen I didn't see?"

"Yes, I just finally added up everything in my head... In my own thoughts. And suddenly saw how much I owe you and how much worse things could have gone if you weren't a good person."

He studied his computer when they reached their seats. She didn't think he was going to reply but once he was sure of his words he spoke quietly, just for her ears.

"You burden me with high expectations, but it was I who was slow to see how you gifted me with your friendship. I'm just trying to catch up now. Indeed, remember my father's words when you met him? He saw that the lesson of what you had done was as plain as a classical morality play. I will try to be fair to you. I don't know that I have it in me to be
good
. I fear we are getting into areas where words are slippery things and we have too few of them yet to discuss philosophy, much less religion."

"Your actions speak louder than words," she told him.

"Indeed there is a proverbial saying much the same in both Badger and trade."

"English too," Lee admitted, "but it fell off my tongue like I'd coined the saying myself."

"Coined the saying?" he asked, and consulted his computer. "Yes, I guess every truth has to be struck in the die a first time. But people discover them for themselves anew over and over. Don't they?"

"Some do," Lee agreed. "Just be aware, we aren't all good either."

"I had no such foolish expectation," he assured her. Then the shuttle launch made them heavy and cut off their conversation.

Chapter 26

"The pressure isn't coming back up, so I guess they had their fill of trading," Probity guessed.

"Now if they just don't deposit us in the Hyades Cluster... " Wong worried.

"They have been relatively benign so far," Fenton pointed out. "Perhaps even benevolent if the stuff they traded us turns out to be of value."

"Are you having anyone evaluate it?" Wong asked.

"I'm not sure we've up to it. What if we do something stupid they would be astonished anyone was stupid enough to do, and lose the ship? Our comrades would never know why. Imagine giving a propane torch to stone age savages. Would they know to turn a valve or press an igniter? Or might they toss it on their camp fire to see what happens when you cook it? For that reason alone I'll defer messing with them until the rest of the fleet can be tied in on a com link, but a safe distance away."

"I imagine it will take us as long to get back as it took coming out to their world," Summer said.

"Yes, but when we scanned the sky the primary reference stars were in very close relationship to where they appear from the Badger's world. So they didn't take us all that far. I'm confident we'd have oriented ourselves and got back within a few weeks," Probity told them.

"Which means we have no need to sit here when we are all short on sleep," Captain Fenton decided. "Abbott and his crew can come back and relieve us and keep a dock watch. They may sit a bit of a long shift but we're pretty sure it will be an easy one. Wong, get them back up here and everybody get some rest, a decent meal, and whatever you need to recharge," he said, getting up and taking his privilege to go off duty first while they waited for the hand off.

* * *

"Planets are fun to visit, but four days down below tired me out," Lee told Talker. They had lifted on an empty stomach and were having lunch. "I may get bored waiting a month for your people to get their expedition ready, but I doubt I'll go back down this trip."

"You might not have to wait a month. The latest word I'm getting is everybody wants to push the date up. Which is sort of amusing since they thought the original departure date was a real push. That's one of the things I wanted to tell Gordon face to face instead of on com."

"What made them change their mind?"

"A lot of things, but the biggest seemed to be the Biters putting us at risk by docking on our station. We could lock them out but it was hard to convince whoever flies those huge ships we aren't allies with the Biters. Gordon saved us there. His communication was brilliant. It upset our people they were powerless to actually keep them from docking, or kick them off the docking collar." He ate a bit and looked back up. "
I'm
pushing for an early departure actually," he admitted.

"Hmm... Did you ask Gordon to help you with that?" Lee wondered.

"
No
." Talker seemed unhappy. He didn't add anything to his brusque reply for some time.

"We have no alliance with your political powers," he finally added, unhappy. "It was beyond the authority of the representatives you carried here to commit their governments to such a serious obligation as a mutual defense treaty. The most they could do was carry word back we wanted such a thing. Also, Gordon made it quite clear that The Little Fleet wasn't for hire as a mercenary force at any price."

"Oh... I wouldn't have thought to do it that way," Lee admitted. "Through 'official' channels. Honestly, I don't have much use for the way governments do things. I know you are part of your government and I don't know how it works very well yet. I haven't bothered to find out as long as you didn't interfere with us with a bunch of stupid red tape and regulations. I been treated so badly by Human governments I don't have any use for them at all now. I think the Derf system of clan mothers is better on the average, or at least could be reformed, but I'd have never thought to appeal to any of them for help."

"Red tape," Talker said reading his computer. "Interesting. I admit, the concept is not - unknown to us. You might be surprised how much I've worked behind the scenes to prevent just that sort of obstruction from happening here. I'd even say it has been my main job. But what would you have done if we
had
given you a long list of conditions and regulations for entry and trade? Maybe taxes or what was your other word?" he asked, checking the computer again."Ah, tariffs!"

"We'd have just gone away. I wouldn't put up with that foolishness and I'm sure Gordon wouldn't. We didn't land and meet with the Bunnies because their obsession with their government makes them act crazy. Their opening position was they already owned everything we had! When we put this expedition together we came this close to writing the Fargoer's off to equip us and going to New Japan to outfit us." She held up finger and thumb a few scant millimeters from touching. "They tried to
pressure
us with official bull pucky at first, instead of just asking nicely for things we were prepared to freely give them."