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  *****

  Medical bay

  TFR Beijing

  Sol System Asteroid Belt

  Two days later

  “WILL SHE LIVE?”

  AN ECHO of her question to Doctor Saeed, made months ago, but now with one key word different: “she.” Her tone, too, was touched with something different. Rather than concern for her military objectives, Liao was concerned for Saara.

  Was that treason? Was she a traitor to her own species by caring for their prisoner, or as she had come to know her, her friend? Did Sheng really have a point?

  Saara lay on her bed nearby, eyes closed, face bandaged. Doctor Saeed stood nearby. He warmly smiled at Liao. “The Toralii heal faster than humans do, Captain. She has received a number of serious injuries. If she were a human, I am certain she would be dead, but fortunately, that is not her fate this day. Sheng’s marines certainly did a number on her, though.” He regarded her curiously. “I’m assuming you had them punished.”

  Liao folded her hands in front, blowing out a low sigh. “They pulled a Nuremberg defence. Said they were just following Sheng’s orders, like Cheung. Except Cheung knew what she was doing and came around in the end.”

  Saeed frowned. “I doubt that people ‘just following orders’ would beat someone so savagely. If you hadn't shown up when you did, well, I doubt even my considerable skill would have been able to save her.”

  “In my heart I know that, and they know I know. They’re on very thin ice now. One slip, and I’ll have James throw them off the ship.” Liao regarded the unconscious Toralii woman. “When will she be able to talk again?”

  Saeed gestured to a seat, sitting down beside Liao. “Her jaw was shattered, Captain. Six breaks, a very serious injury. We’ve surgically wired it shut for now, and Lieutenant Yu tells us that the situation was explained to Saara; she wrote down all the help and information we could ask for”—a nod to the many security cameras, fitted with obvious microphones— “which has all been recorded, of course.”

  Liao nodded. “Yes, Yu is skilled. His assistance has been invaluable to our translation efforts. I’m glad he was able to help you.”

  Saeed rested his hand on Liao’s shoulder. “Saara will be unconscious for another hour or two. I’m happy to contact you, however, when she’s ready to talk. For now, though, there’s nothing more you or I can do.”

  Melissa nodded again, folding her hands in her lap. “Thank you, Doctor. I… I am concerned about her health. Between her surviving a nuke strike and then enduring Sheng’s almost equally destructive behaviour, I wonder if there are limits to what even the Toralii can take.”

  “She’s strong,” Saeed offered, squeezing her shoulder slightly. “Her biology is amazing. I don’t think there’s any risk from what she’s been through so far. Just”—his face split in a playful grin—“make sure she takes care of herself and eats her vegetables, okay?”

  Liao laughed. “I’m not her mother, despite appearances to the contrary”—she smiled—“but okay, sure. I’ll make sure she eats right. To be honest, though, we don’t really know her diet. She sure seems to love eating our food, but we don’t know how good it is for her. She might well be doing the equivalent of scoffing down on cheeseburgers and chips.”

  “Probably, but she seems healthy, at any rate… at least when she’s not being blown up by nukes or beaten by marines. But, again, who knows what healthy for her species looks like.”

  Liao stood. Moving over to Saara’s bed, she gently cupped the Toralii's much larger hand in her own and gave it a squeeze. “I’ll ask her when she wakes up.”

  Saeed quietly contemplated the two of them. When he spoke, his voice was quiet.

  “You like her, don’t you?”

  Liao let a little smile play across her lips. “I suppose I do,” she admitted, “and I’m not sure why. I think it’s just that… well, you know. I’ve never really had many female friends—any, really—and this is… well, honestly, the first time I’ve ever connected with anyone of my own gender.” She laughed. “I wonder if it’s because she isn’t human.”

  “It’s understandable. People bond with the strangest things. Some people, for example, get along better with animals than with humans; my cousin is autistic, and she finds that animals are, by far, easier to get along with. She doesn’t understand people at all, but when it comes to calming down a panicked mare, she’s like a little horse whisperer or something. I’m not saying you’re like her, but that’s just the way it is. Such behaviours have been observed in neuro-typical people as well.”

  Liao had always liked the idea of horses and other strong, large animals, but there were few opportunities to see them where she grew up. Still… Saeed’s observation of her was not far off the mark, strange though it was to admit. She stood now, offering the man her hand.

  “Alas, Doctor, duty calls. I’ll be back later to check on her, okay? Let me know if she wakes up.”

  Taking her firm handshake, Saeed nodded. “I promise you’ll be the first to know.”

  Mess Hall

  TFR Beijing

  Sol System Asteroid Belt

  Two days later

  In the great battle between exhaustion and hunger, eventually hunger won out. Although she had a yeoman to serve her meals in her quarters, Liao preferred to eat with her crew; accordingly, when hunger eventually became too strong to ignore, she made her way to the mess hall, still flicking through a small pile of reports, triaging those that were not critical and skimming those that were.

  Forgetting what she had ordered, Liao pulled up a chair at the long table and rubbed her eyes. When she opened them, she was staring into two familiar faces, Grégoire and Rowe.

  “Evening, Captain!” was Rowe’s enthusiastic greeting, which drew a chuckle from Grégoire. “Mind if we sit with you?”

  Liao gave a tired smile. “I don’t see why not.”

  “I was just telling Summer about how my family came to Belgium from Rwanda when I was just a small child.” He indicated her meal. “I didn’t know you were a vegetarian.”

  Rowe laughed and shook her head, picking up a fork and tucking in to her chicken strips.

  Liao looked down at her plate—salad with ranch dressing and a whole heap of potatoes.

  “Neither did I,” she confessed. “I thought I ordered…” Her voice trailed off. “Honestly, I don’t remember.”

  Rowe just laughed again, but Grégoire frowned. “When did you last have some rack time?”

  “Uh…”

  “If you can’t remember, it’s been too long.”

  Liao shrugged her shoulders, absently popping one of the almost-fresh tomatoes into her mouth. “I have a lot to do. What if the Toralii find us in the asteroid belt?”

  “I have enough time to eat on another ship,” Grégoire observed, grinning just a little and pointing his fork at her. “You should at least find time to sleep.”

  “Besides,” added Rowe, her mouth full of chicken, “the likelihood of anyone finding us here is pretty damn good if they’re looking. An asteroid belt is basically empty space. I mean, there’s only about one tenth the mass of our moon spread out over an orbit between Mars and Jupiter, and if you remove the four largest bodies in the belt, you reduce the mass by half! That’s why we’re swinging out near Vesta, hoping to use its mass to—”

  Liao grated her teeth. “I know, Summer. I command a spaceship, remember? I know how space works.”

  “I’m just saying, we’re not really hiding very well at—”

  “I know.”

  Grégoire and Rowe both were silenced at the sharpness of her tone, and the people near her stared before deliberately looking away. The three ate in silence for a moment, and then James put down his fork.

  “Bed time,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument. “C’mon. I’ll walk you there.”

  Medical bay

  TFR Beijing

  Sol System Asteroid Belt

  Later

  The rest did her wonders
. Much later in the evening, just as she was working her way through the most relaxing dream, Liao received the call she had been hoping for. Saeed had been as good as his word; the moment Saara was awake, Liao's radio crackled, and the doctor's voice gave her the good news.

  She pulled on her uniform as quickly as she could, kissed Grégoire’s sleeping forehead on the way out, and rushed to sickbay as fast as dignity would allow. Yu was waiting for her there. Giving the man a curt nod, Liao made her way to Saara’s bed, her face brightening when she saw Saara was awake.

  [“Captain Liao! It brings a smile to my face to see you. I didn’t think I would ever lay eyes upon you again.”]

  Liao’s surprise was total. She stared at the Toralii woman, dumbfounded.

  “Your jaw… Saeed said it was shattered. How can you speak?”

  [“It was, but this recovery time is normal for my kind. Apparently, compared to humans, the Toralii heal fast, Captain Liao.”]

  Liao cupped the Toralii’s hand in hers, squeezing fondly. “Some good news at least. It’s good to see you well, Saara. How are you feeling?”

  [“Better than I did before, Captain.”] Saara gave a low chuckle. [“Apparently, not all of your species treat their captives so well.”]

  “Apparently not, no.” Liao tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice. “I’m… very sorry about what he did to you, what Sheng did to you. I didn’t know what he was planning, and I… If I had known…”

  [“I know.”] Saara paused as she considered her next words. [“What happened to the man?”]

  “I shot him. Ostensibly for mutiny, but… I have to say, what he did to you was inexcusable. Humanity doesn’t treat its prisoners this way. No civilized people should. Down that road lies inhumanity and madness.”

  [“Is that all I am? Just a prisoner to you?”] Saara’s yellow eyes belied a sincere sadness at Liao’s statement, her tail drooping slightly.

  “Of course not.” Liao gave the Toralii woman’s hand another squeeze. “I was speaking about how they saw you, not how I did. You should know by now. While technically you’re still being held here at our pleasure, well…” Liao shrugged. “We’ve come to understand a great deal about you and your people. No matter what anyone else says, you are—and shall forever be considered—my friend.”

  Saara’s smile lifted Liao’s heart. [“I am glad to hear it. I feel the same way. And although I have served the Toralii enforcement fleet for some time, and in my duties encountered several other species, none have taken me quite as humanity has. You are a strange and interesting people, Captain Liao, and if it were possible, I would enjoy learning more about you.”]

  Liao considered this, her mind ticking over. “I don’t know if that will be possible. I may consider you a friend, and on this vessel my word is law, but the command structure of my people will almost certainly see it differently. They will see you as a threat, I fear, and I’m not sure what I can do to change that.

  “The species of man is a collective of good people. I believe that right down to my bones. But our history is chequered and marred by countless atrocities. Accordingly, we have evolved a kind of… suspicion of the outsider. That which is not like us is something to be distrusted, hated, and feared all in equal measure.”

  [“You sound just like us, my friend, and your words could just as easily come from the mouth of any Toralii. My people do not instinctively trust outsiders. Many species do not. It is a common trait. It probably evolved under circumstances similar to those you describe for humanity. As I explained earlier, our own species is not without its wars, its atrocities, its lies, and its betrayals… usually conducted by those who were not part of the ‘group.’”]

  Liao took a breath, closing her eyes for a moment. She continued to hold Saara’s hand. Lieutenant Yu mutely watched, observing the situation with curiosity. Eventually, Liao spoke again.

  “The Toralii are not without their hypocrisies either. You preached to me about peace earlier, but your kind attacked humanity without any warning and without care for the civilian deaths your actions would cause. Doesn’t that strike you as hypocritical?”

  Saara regarded her with sad eyes. [“Yes, and I wish it were not so, but the irony of our situation is not lost on me or… others of my kind.”]

  Liao rested her hand over Saara’s. “Which leads me to my next point. There… was one question I was never able to get you to answer. Why did the Toralii attack Earth?”

  Saara spent a moment studying the human, her expression unreadable. To Liao, she seemed to be internally debating some great tribulation.

  [“You had Voidwarp technology.”]

  Liao looked to Yu, nodding in encouragement. “Voidwarp… you spoke of this before. You said we could not possess it, but why not?”

  Saara hesitated again. [“Before I answer, Captain, I should explain something.”]

  Liao nodded encouragingly. “Go on.”

  [“The Telvan, my people, they believe that if you save someone’s life, that person is indebted to you. Left in Sheng’s hands, I would not have survived, so… a life is owed to you. I should give you answers at least.”]

  Liao did not know what to do or say regarding Saara’s pledge, but she did have other questions that needed answering.

  “Answers… answers are good. Why don’t we start with the supply depot you told Sheng about?”

  Saara grinned an alien grin tainted with an emotion Liao could not properly decode. [“The coordinates I gave him were deep space… empty. Had he jumped there, he would have just been wasting his time. The Telvan learned long ago that torture is only useful for confirming information you already know, since its victims will say anything just to end it.”]

  Liao pursed her lips a moment. “Well, Sheng never was the wisest of men, was he?” Shaking her head, she remembered something that Saara had mentioned earlier. Leaning forward, she raised a curious eyebrow. “Do other species have Voidwarp technology, or is it just the Toralii?”

  [“Three others that we know of. Our reach is not unlimited, however, and the universe is vast, so there may be others.”]

  Melissa pondered that. “So at least three possess it now, but I’m guessing that others have tried in the past but were stopped by the Toralii.”

  [“Yes, a great many have tried. Every species we’ve met who possess it give it a different name, but they all have the same underlying mechanism. And they are all equally dangerous.”]

  Liao tried her best to repeat the word she had heard Saara say, although the inflections seemed impossible to reproduce. [“Dang-er-ous?”] It was a new word, only recently learned, its translation possibly inaccurate. Yu and Liao looked at each other again, a little concerned. Liao did not like the direction that this discussion was heading. The jump drive on her ship had never even been used, and if what Saara was telling them were true, she’d rather it stayed that way… at least for the moment.

  Yu leaned forward. “The jump drive—what you would refer to as Voidwarp technology—is dangerous? How so?”

  Saara stared at them with alien eyes that held an entirely human sadness. [“It is the most destructive power in the galaxy that our species has discovered. Regrettably, we discovered it far too late. I wish—our people wish—that we stood where you stood, Captain, that our species had made the sacrifices yours has instead of what has befallen us.”]

  Liao and Yu exchanged another glance. “I’m afraid I don’t follow.” Liao's voice was quiet. “As far as our scientists have determined, the jump drive is very difficult to get working, but once it does, it’s safe. It either works or it doesn’t. Failure just means a failed jump, nothing more.”

  [“We thought so as well, but there is a third outcome.”]

  Exhaling and shaking her head, the Toralii female looked between the two humans, her bright, yellow eyes displaying a depth of emotion Liao was surprised to see. The more she learned about this so very alien creature, this friend of hers, the more of humanity she saw in her.

  [�
��I will do my best to explain, but I am only a pilot. The… mechanism behind a Voidwarp engine’s transportation is complex and beyond my understanding, but when it activates, there is a potential for a cataclysmic event to occur. The exact circumstances of what causes this event elude me, but what is clear is that when it occurs, a… ‘singularity’… is formed at the origin point.”]

  Saara paused a moment to let the two humans digest what she had just said and then continued, her words slow and clear so that the two who were learning her language could absorb them.

  [“This singularity never closes; it only grows endlessly and in time devours all around it. Planets, stars, solar systems… all are eventually consumed by the raging stellar tempest. There are three in existence that we know of… We call them Uraj-tor, Khali-tor and Majev-tor. They grow every year, and we have seen no sign of them ever slowing down.

  [“Uraj-tor was the first of the void-tempests, and it was created by us nearly six hundred years ago. It was a golden age for our people. Our world’s various nations had allied under a single banner, coexisting in peace. War, strife, chaos… these things were gone from our people’s lives. It was a time of great scientific achievement and progress.

  [“Our home world of Evarel was the testing site for the first Voidwarp engine, and what a success it was. From there, we established dozens of colonies in the Hijaai system, our home, and we spread ourselves into space. Soon we were colonizing other solar systems, too, making other homes amongst the cosmos. Colonists, explorers, and settlers went out into the black, and their reports told us that they had found hundreds of bountiful planets capable of sustaining life.

  [“We believed we were on the cusp of achieving the destiny of our species. Space travel became commonplace; every day hundreds of ships, vast and tiny, left Evarel’s warp-points, departing for any one of hundreds of destinations. Trade between the colonists and the homeworlders flourished, all because of the wondrous Voidwarp technology. The words on every child’s lips were full of joy and hope.

  [“How far away those times seem to us now.”]

  Despite the vast gulf in culture and biology between the two species, the grief on Saara’s face was plain to the humans. Her pupils were dilated, her ears lay back against her head, and her voice became high-pitched and strained. The heavy stones of the wall that guarded her emotions from the ravages of the story weakened under the effort of its retelling.

  [“And then the cataclysm came. A simple merchant ship, the Makaani, engaged its Voidwarp engine. When it did, a great, black fire sprang forth from where it left—a spiralling trail of nothing that grew and grew, slowly forming a great rift in the sky. Evarel screamed and thrashed as the singularity pulled her ever closer. But despite the best efforts of our scientists and our military, she and her moons were all swallowed. Six billion Toralii died, including almost all of our leadership, our scientists, our artists, philosophers, and intellectuals.

  [“Word of the disaster spread slowly. After Evarel was consumed, there was no one left to send word of what had happened, and attempts to return to our home world were thwarted by the lack of a warp-point where one was expected. The singularity put out so much gravimetric distortion that jumping into the system was impossible. So finally, scouts warped into the edges of the Hijaai system and saw the destruction firsthand. It was they who relayed to us the terrible news that our home world had been destroyed.

  [“The pain this caused to the Toralii was utterly unimaginable. The coalition the colonists had forged with our home world, this union of peace and prosperity, disintegrated without Evarel’s influence. In mere weeks, we turned on each other in a series of rapidly escalating wars, as each faction squabbled over the scraps of our civilization’s technology, labour, ships, medical supplies, females, food, and water. All became commodities to be bartered from the strong, extorted from the weak, or stolen from the weaker.

  [“It was not until the dust had settled, at the cost of so many lives, that our species finally reunited under the banner of the strongest of the colonies, known simply as The Toralii Alliance. The Telvan were part of it, as was everyone, and this new coalition did all they could to try to close the ever-hungry maw of Uraj-tor, but he could not be satisfied. Eventually the Alliance gave up, moved the survivors to a safe location, and let the entire system be consumed.

  [“We tried teaching the first few species we encountered, sharing our knowledge with them, giving them weapons and food and medicines. This met with some success, and we did find some allies, until we encountered another species we called the Kel-Voran. They had not yet developed Voidwarp technology, so we gave it to them.”] Saara took a deep breath. [“But the Kel-Voran were not like us. Vicious and warlike, they saw the Voidwarp technology not as a tool for ushering in a period of peace, but instead as a way to impose their will on all species around the galaxy.

  [“Thus, soon enough, our two species fell into war. We struggled, as we had struggled with so many others, to make them see the danger in the wonders they had discovered, but our messengers were met only with gunfire, and our communications were ignored. They fought us at every turn until another singularity appeared, and Khali-tor opened his insatiable maw and, just like Uraj-tor did to us, swallowed the Kel-Voran home world. It was at this time the Telvan split from the Toralii Alliance.

  [“From our encounters with the Kel-Voran, we knew we could no longer rely on diplomacy to educate other races about the harms of the Voidwarp. Instead, we are now forced to employ violence, a strategy that has worked for every species we have encountered. And we no longer share our technology with those we find to be friendly.

  [“The truth is that we are a peaceful people. We have no desire to harm or kill, but every time a sentient species develops the Voidwarp technology, they must be taught not to use it. They must not be permitted to use the Voidwarp engines without knowing the safe limits to which they can be pushed. The learning process is long, and the risks are great. Too great.”]

  Saara’s eyes narrowed as she looked between Liao and Yu, her black fur rising slightly as though reflecting her rising emotional state.

  [“Although we wish it were not so with every fibre of our beings, the reality of the situation is that no species aside from the Toralii may be permitted to own or operate the Voidwarp devices. This is our law, our uncompromising, unyielding law. It exists for a very good reason. I hope you see that now.”]

  Liao nodded thoughtfully as she digested everything Saara had told her. It was a lot to take in, but in a way it only confirmed what the humans already knew. The aliens’ arrival and bombardment was not a coincidence, and the attacks on Earth were linked to the discovery of the jump drive.

  “Unfortunately,” Liao began, “humans… are a curious people, but we are not entirely reckless. Had we known of the dangers, we would have been more careful with the technology and taken the time to learn it. We would endeavour to be like you; we would want to understand this mysterious and strange technology. We would want to use it safely.”

  Saara’s eyes seemed to pierce through Liao.

  [“Would you?”]

  “If your case had been convincing, yes. I know we would have—”

  [“No… no.”] Saara gave a tired sigh. [“You see, we have heard such words before, from dozens of species all over the galaxy, and the outcomes have always been the same. Always the arguments are ‘taken into consideration’ and then discarded once the power of the Voidwarp technology becomes truly apparent. The likelihood of your kind weaponizing or abusing the technology is seen as too great.

  [“This ship—this great weapon that you have built to fight for your right to use it—is proof that we were correct.”]

  The idea that the Toralii had encountered so many other species who all had the same reaction to the Voidwarp technology came as a shock to Liao. Although she wanted to ask about that, she felt compelled to at least attempt to refute Saara’s claim.

  “This ship is a weapon built to fight you,” she argu
ed. “Well, the Toralii—only because the Toralii attacked us—and for no other purpose. The Beijing is designed only to take the fight to those that harmed us… and we didn’t even know why they did.”

  Liao rolled her shoulders. “But it’s interesting, you know? The attacks upon Earth have proven to be a very uniting event. Our people stand behind the Pillars of the Earth now together in common cause. More or less.”

  Liao leaned forward, folding her hands into her lap. “If you had given us a chance, I think we might have surprised you. Humanity possesses a great potential for greed, yes, but also for great patience, temperance, compassion, and understanding.”

  Lieutenant Yu nodded his agreement. “We have a chequered history, yes, but for every act of barbarism there are acts of great charity and… for lack of a better word, humanity.”

  [“You say that with such certainty, and I would love to do nothing more than believe it, but we have heard similar talk before from other species. We could not take the risk.”]

  Liao nodded. “Very well, I suppose we’ll have to agree to disagree. One question: what about the other… singularity? You mentioned there were three, and you told us the origins of two of them. What’s the story behind…”—she struggled to pronounce it correctly—“Majev-tor?”

  Saara just gave what Liao could only assume was the equivalent of a saddened smile.

  [“Majev-tor is a story for another day, human. Recounting Uraj-tor’s opening has drained me for today. I can stand no more tragedy.”]

  “Very well.” Liao paused and then inclined her head. “So… while you did not speak our language before coming here, you mentioned that your people had studied us for some time before the attacks. Are there Toralii that know our language? That understand us?”

  [“I am… or rather, I was, merely a pilot. But for the Telvan, each new species we encounter is assigned a diplomat. The diplomat, and other high-ranking officers assigned to study humanity, would have a working knowledge of your various languages, yes. In that regard, the Telvan are more considerate than the rest of the Alliance, who generally do not do this. They train only their soldiers with new languages, and they care not for peaceful resolutions. Why do you ask?”]

  “I just want to know if… if we send the Toralii a message, can they understand it?”

  [“You want to open diplomatic ties with my people?”] The Toralii woman screwed up her face in confusion. [“A bold move. One that I doubt will be received very well. You possess voidwarp devices, you attacked one of our survey vessels, and you hold one of their crewmen. This vessel is impressive, Captain, as are his sisters, but even the Telvan possess great fleets and the will to use them. I doubt very much that our elders will listen to anything you have to say. Once they learn you have voidwarp devices, they will return in force. You cannot intercept every survey vessel. They will eventually find out, and then they will come. Heed my words well when I say… they will not send the gentle Telvan. It will be Alliance warships at your proverbial door.”]

  “I know”—Liao's hand slipped free of Saara’s—“and when they do, I and my crew will be there to meet them.”

  She paused, regarding her Toralii friend.

  “Until then, I will need your help.”

  Chapter VIII

  Laying the Stones