Skanse
Aerie :
Gliesan
System :
“We’ve arrived,”
Naila
said, breaking Justine’s concentration.
When she looked up at the front display, Justine saw that
the
Fainne
was approaching the deep space orbital the Gliesans called
Skanse Aerie.
While Earth stations were largely built using basic
architectural forms as their foundations—a collection of tubes, like Canada
Station Three, or wheel-shaped with spokes, like Lucis Observatory—the Gliesan
station looked like a starburst, with hundreds of spires extending from the
central hub. It was an immense, brightly lit construction, set against the
backdrop of the stars.
“How many people are there?” Justine asked in wonder.
“About one-hundred-thousand.” On the display, Fairamai
pointed to a spot halfway up one of the long spires, which must have been
nearly a kilometer in length. “I live there with my mate, Havena. He’s one of
the gravimetric technicians.”
“This is your permanent home?” Justine asked.
“Yes.” Fairamai clicked her taloned finger on an icon at the
bottom of the display. A series of images in a small sub-window showed several
portions of the station: markets, offices, workshops, hallways, and hundreds of
elaborate gardens. One of the last sets of images showed dozens of hangars with
several spacecraft. “The aerie is primarily a military outpost, and also serves
as the first stop for visiting emissaries from other worlds—the population is
mainly transitory. Several spires are set aside for Aethers, since we cannot
live on our home world.”
As they approached the central area of the aerie, Justine
spotted a landing bay. A tug emerged from it and latched on to the Kulsat
shuttle. It towed the shuttle off to another section of the station.
“Where are they taking them?” Justine asked.
“We have … facilities to house them,” Fairamai said. Before
Justine could ask, she added, “They are not the first Kulsat we’ve had here, but
they will be treated according to our highest diplomatic conventions. Rest
assured, they will not be harmed.”
Relaxing at the Gliesan’s assurance, Justine watched as the
Fainne
completed its docking procedures. As they pulled into their assigned bay, Naila
spoke through his communicator. The translation machine didn’t interpret for
Justine, and she wondered if they were talking about her.
When he’d finished his conversation, Naila said, “We will
disembark now. An ambassador from Gliese has been assigned to escort you from
this point on—he will meet you at the main gate. They’ve set aside quarters for
you on the station while the Collection’s assessment council deliberates on
your situation. I’m sure they will contact you for debriefing at some point,
though I can’t say for certain: I am simply a pilot, not a politician.”
Justine smiled. “How long do you think they’ll take to
decide?”
“I have no idea,” Naila said. He motioned to the
communication console. “I’ve been given some instructions. Before we can let
you off this vessel, I must formally inform you of the following:
“On behalf of the Collection of Worlds, the Gliesan
Parliament extends you, Major Justine Turner, political asylum and shelter from
enemy attack. In return, you will not undertake to acquire our Aether
technology, and you will give your oath that you will uphold all Gliesan and
Galactic Laws. You will be restricted from traveling to or contacting any being
in Sol System until said system is granted Emerged status and membership to the
Collection of Worlds. Do you agree to these terms?”
At first, Justine balked at the official words. What if the
Collection decided Sol System wasn’t Emerged? She would be stuck out here,
alone and away from home, for the rest of her life. What other choice did she
have, though? She would just have to do everything in her power to convince the
politicians to come to a favorable decision.
“I accept,” she said.
Fairamai put a feathered hand on Justine’s shoulder and made
a soft whistling sound. “Welcome to Gliesan System.”
∞
From the moment Justine had re-materialized in physical form
aboard the
Fainne,
there had been a nagging thought in the back of her
mind. She’d been so caught up in the excitement and wonder of making contact
with an alien culture that it took her until now to realize something. Naila
and Fairamai had been completely composed when she—an alien life form to
them—had appeared on their ship.
Was it so commonplace to meet a new species that there wasn’t
any exhilaration left in the occurrence of first contact? Ah Tabai and Aliah
had briefly jumped into Gliese System to give their report before heading to
Sol System, but from what Justine gathered, they would not have remained in the
system, since what they planned on doing was breaking galactic law. Certainly,
they would have transmitted images of the ‘Solan beings’; but even at that, why
would Naila and Fairamai have been so casual at Justine’s arrival on their
ship?
When Justine disembarked from the scout ship, and followed
the walkway to the main gate, she quickly learned why her appearance had not elicited
any surprise in the Gliesan pilots: They had seen humankind before.
Justine stepped through the doorway into the gate room, and
a human male stepped forward, a huge grin on his face as he extended his arm
toward her to shake her hand.
Though there was the distinct possibility that humaniform
beings had evolved from primates on another world, Justine knew this was not
the case in this instance. The man could have been a brother or cousin to Alex
Manez or Yaxche. He was most definitely Mayan in origin.
“Good Morning, Major Justine Turner. I am Yoatl Cen, the
Gliesan ambassador to Sol. I must apologize if my etiquette is not correct. I’ve
never had the pleasure of visiting Sol System, and I have only been able to
reference the data we received from Alex Manez’s ship.”
Justine’s mind spun. There was so much conflicting
information, she couldn’t process it. The Gliesans had spent a great deal of
time telling her that Sol System was off-limits, and that interference was
strictly prohibited. Yet, here before her, was evidence to the contrary.
Numbly, she reached out to shake his hand.
Yoatl, shorter than Justine by a few centimeters, nodded to
her, a wide smile on his lips. “You must have many questions. I have even
prepared a speech to explain it all to you. We have set aside quarters for your
stay; you may wish to tend to personal needs or perhaps meditate for a few
hours. When you are ready, I will give you a tour of the aerie, and bring you
up to velocity before your briefing with the Collection representative.”
“Thank you,” Justine said absently, and gathered her
makeshift toga around her as she followed the—
her
—ambassador through the
processing area and into the corridors of the station.
One of the first things she noticed was the aesthetics of
the station. The organic décor of the interior was a sharp contrast to the
futuristic architecture of the outside of the station. Many of Earth’s space
stations were designed for efficiency, and while there were attempts to make it
seem a little more homey for the long-term residents, no one who visited any of
the stations made of the mistake of forgetting they were in space.
The corridors of Skanse Aerie station were anything but
straight. The path wound left and right, sometimes gradually, sometimes
sharply. Sculpted to resemble the walls of a canyon, the surface had rocky
areas with outcropping housing plants and flowers. Justine was surprised when a
small bird she thought was a decoration flapped its wings and flew off ahead of
them. The floor rose and fell unevenly, and the base narrowed and widened
randomly. Above them, a wide-open green-blue sky housed several cloud
formations and the image of a small, red sun. The ceiling obviously used some
kind of projection technology. Although the expense must have been enormous,
the Gliesans must have believed it was worth it to create a natural-looking
environment for those who were stationed on the outer rim of the system either
temporarily or permanently. To Justine, it felt as if she were taking a stroll
through a national park on Earth.
“On the other side of the wall to our right is a transport
conveyor for those carrying supplies, or for those who do not wish to walk the
distance from the central hub to their destination. You can access them here.”
He pointed to what looked like a sawed-off branch coming out
of the wall. With a quick motion, he waved his hand over it, and a section of
the wall vanished, revealing a short passageway to the transport tunnel. There
were two pathways there; one leading up to the far side of the tunnel, the
other descending a shorter distance to the lower level, where the floor itself
moved slowly up the length of the spire. Though she couldn’t see the floor on
the upper side, she assumed it held a similar moving floor heading the opposite
direction.
“The upper pathway,” she said. “How is it suspended?” There
wasn’t any scaffolding propping it up, and she couldn’t see any wires leading
from it to the ceiling of the tunnel.
“There’s an electromagnetic field, though I can’t pretend to
understand the specific technology; it’s not my area of expertise.”
Stepping back into the main corridor, Yoatl gestured to
another cutoff branch sticking out of the other side of the wall, though he
didn’t wave his hand over it.
“On the left side of the wall are the compartments for
living quarters, working environments, industrial complexes, life support
gardens, or storage facilities.”
Justine said, “I’d love to see those gardens.”
“Once we’ve completed the briefing, you’ll be assigned a security
level coded to your biosignature. I assume you’ll be granted access to all the
common areas—which includes the gardens—in addition to your quarters. You may
visit any unrestricted areas at your leisure. Until then, you’ll need me to
escort you around the station.”
“Understandable.”
He nodded and then gestured to the branch marker on the
wall. “Temporary visitor quarters are inside here. They are fully equipped with
every amenity you should require, though I’m sure once we’ve established your
diplomatic status, you’ll be assigned a more appropriate dwelling.” Waving his
hand over the branch, he took a step back when a portion of the wall vanished,
and motioned for her to enter first.
Inside, there was another corridor, though this one did not
look quite as natural as the main pathway through the spire. The walls and
floor were smooth and straight, but the ceiling still benefited from the
projection of the sky. It was a very comforting illusion.
There were several apartments along the corridor, and when
they reached the last one, Yoatl opened the door for Justine and politely
waited at the entrance for her to enter.
“My wife, Ekthin, did not have much time to synthesize
clothing for you; I hope the garment style she selected is to your liking.
There is nutritional refreshment in the cold storage unit, a sonic shower, and
a reclining platform if you wish to rest or meditate. I have reserved a private
space in one of our most popular eateries where you can sample some Gliesan
cuisine, and we can talk. I will return for you in two hours.”
Justine shook her head. “But I have so many questions.”
“I am sure everything you’ve experienced must be
overwhelming, even for an Aetherbeing. You will benefit from some time to
gather your thoughts and—how do you say it?—‘catch your breath’. Besides,” he
said, giving her a conspiratorial wink, “I must report my first impressions of
you to the Solan Society. Your arrival has created quite a stir among us, and I
fear there might be an uprising if their curiosity is not satisfied.”
She wanted to protest again, but Justine realized that he
was right; too much had happened in too short a time. She needed a few hours to
clean herself up and get her head straight.
Whatever the Kinemet had done to alter her on a cellular
level, one of the side effects was that her suprachiasmatic nuclei stopped
inducing the sleep aspect of her circadian rhythm. While she’d only spent a
small portion of her time since the Kinemetic change in physical form, she
realized that quieting her mind was still a necessity. Even Alex had spent
several hours a day in a meditative state. Since arriving in the Centauri
System, the only time Justine had not been conscious was when the Kulsat had
quantized her, and that had been more like a state of suspension than affording
her any real rest.
When she entered the small apartment, and Yoatl closed the door
behind her, Justine’s first impulse was to review everything that had happened
over the past few days; but when she saw the reclining platform set into a
small alcove at the back of the room, she changed her mind. Instead of a flat
mattress, there was a hammock-like bed that looked irresistible.
One thing she had to do first, however, was clean up. She’d
spent several days in the Kulsat terrarium. Yoatl had been polite not to
mention how badly she smelled. There was another recess on the other side of
the room, and Justine stepped out of her makeshift toga and entered the sonic
shower. It was simple to figure out. A single lever turned the device on and
off. She didn’t know if there was a time allotment, but she figured she must
have spent a good half an hour letting the sound waves wash over her. Never in
her life had she been so thoroughly scrubbed and cleaned.
While she showered, she thought about sonic technology.
Scientists on Earth had long thought that sound was one of the most powerful
forces in nature. At the right frequency, sound waves could melt metal, shatter
glass and rock, and—as she had witnessed—explode organic cells. For over a
century, engineers had used sonic welding in electronics to bond metals. The
nature of the star beacons suggested that the Grace had somehow tapped into the
sound frequencies of all stellar objects, using that technology to help those
attuned to it to navigate between the beacons. It was no wonder the Kulsat had
developed sonic weapons and tools.