Star Glory (Empire Series Book 1) Read online

  “Com, sound off,” the captain said. “Doctor Bjorg, what are we looking at here? As in what kind of people are these folks?”

  The big-framed man leaned forward against his accel straps. “Captain, they are bipedal vertebrate primates with stereoscopic vision who appear to be arboreal in heritage. Like us and like the orangutans they resemble, they have very long arms, short legs and five digits on each hand and foot, with opposable thumbs showing on each limb.” The man gave a sigh. “I could speculate they are mammals and sexually dimorphic like us, but that will have to wait until they talk to us. Assuming they use acoustic sounds to communicate.”

  “How else would they communicate than by sound?” the XO said, sounding puzzled.

  “Doctor Kumisov, they could communicate using pheromones like our ants and wasps, or by using skin color changes like our octopi, who are chromatophoric animals,” Bjorg said. “Given their dense body fur, I would rule out skin color changes as a communication medium. They might also use sign language of a sort.”

  The captain pursed his lips, his expression thoughtful. “Communications, activate sound from this side.”

  “Activated sir.”

  “Hello. I am Captain Neil Skorzeny of the starship Star Glory. We call ourselves humans. We come from a world with trees that orbits a yellow star. We are peaceful. Who are you?”

  The five orang aliens looked to each other. That was when I noticed one of the five was shorter and less bulky than the other five. That being stood at the far left of the line. The other four now faced forward. The central one moved its thick brown lips.

  “Are you of the Empire? A Novice or Associate people?” the being asked.

  “No!” the captain said loudly. “We just escaped from an attack on us by Empire starships at another star system. Are you a member species?”

  Brown eyelids blinked quickly. All five orang-beings leaned against each other, brushing shoulders. As if in reassurance. Or some kind of group behavior normal to these people. I could not help wondering how similar they might be to Earth orangutans. Then memories from an evolutionary biology class at Great Lakes reminded me that bipedality is not restricted to humans, monkeys and the great apes. Birds roost on two feet. Some reptiles stand and run on two feet. Still, the resemblance was startling.

  The central orang-being slapped its bare forehead with a left hand. “Never! We are the Melanchon. We refused to join the Empire. The creatures of the Empire destroyed our home world. We escaped with seven habitat ships. The only Melanchon still alive reside inside our ships. We use them to travel from system to system, seeking trade with those willing to exchange items peacefully.” The orang-being stopped talking a moment to accept a red tablet from an orang-being who came up from the rear of the room. That person walked away, then climbed up a nearby tree to sit on a thick branch. “We avoid the long-settled parts of the Empire. We try to stay at the edge of the Empire’s frontier, or even beyond among stars not visited by the Empire. We hope to find a system far from the Empire that we might make into a new home for the Melanchon.” The being paused again. “I am a Mother, name of Hatsepsit. Beside me are three other Mothers and one Father. Do you humans also have Mothers and Fathers?”

  The captain smiled. It was the first full-bodied smile I had seen on him since the Empire encounter. “Yes! We humans are male and female. We join together in families to have children. Those who produce children are called mothers and fathers. Some humans do not produce children, but study knowledge. They are elders. While we have hair on parts of our bodies, we come in different colors. Our heritage on our world of Earth shows we too first lived among the trees. Your trees are beautiful. Do you have many on your ships?”

  Hatsepsit’s lips drew apart and lifted, showing white teeth that were a mix of canines and molars. Her nose had a strong ridge much like that of humans. She also had ears on either side of her head, though they were partly covered by head hair. Whether she possessed nipples or small breasts could not be seen due to the thick reddish-brown fur that covered her broad chest.

  “We have many. The trees are as much a part of us as are our children, who come singly after a long time inside the Mother. Each Mother brings forth her egg child to rest in warm sand.” The female leader shifted her head, her brown eyes scanning her image of the Bridge and its people. “I see you humans come in two basic shapes. One form that is flat-chested and tall while the other form has a bulging chest and curved hips. Which is Mother and which is Father?”

  “Captain,” whispered Bjorg. “These Melanchon are monotremes. A type of mammal. They birth their young in eggs that later hatch. Two Earth examples are the platypus and the echidna.”

  The captain gestured down to the academic to shush. “Mother Hatsepsit, I am a Father or male. Below me on my left is a Mother or female. Some of my people that you see are Mothers and Fathers with children. Others have yet to mate for children. Uh, why are you holding place here, at the outer edge of this star system?”

  Hatsepsit snorted, a sound that was translated as laughter. “We hold here because if we travel to the worlds inside, we could be attacked by an unseen Empire ship. While the gas mining ship that swings above the fifth world tells us no Empire ship is in the system, we have learned to stay at the edge of each star’s attraction field, the better to escape into the grayness that allows travel to other stars,” she said. “So we waited for the gas ship to come to us to trade gas fuel that we need for power and movement. Clearly you have learned the same lesson.”

  “We have,” the captain said. “How did you pay for the gas fuel?”

  Hatsepsit’s shoulders rose up then down. “The usual way. We gave the gas ship items they desired. They gave us a small lake of frozen gas fuel.”

  “Does this gas ship accept minerals in payment? Like gold, silver, diamonds and such?” the captain asked.

  Mentally I gave thanks for the superior translation program of the Melanchon. Clearly they had done the same as the Empire ship, taking our First Contact math and English words and then converting them to Melanchon speech. It made me wonder if we could obtain the device or software that allowed such outstanding translations.

  Hatsepsit’s eyebrows rose. A rim of white eyeball showed around the brown pupil of each eye. “You consider those things of value? Strange. They are common among the asteroids of every system. No, the gas ship people accept payment in unique biologicals, in what they call rare earths that are used to make special devices, and in technology they do not possess.”

  “Barter trade,” murmured Bjorg.

  The captain ignored the Science Deck chief. “We have the first two. Tell me, will you give us the neutrino frequency by which we may call the gas ship? We have need of gas isotope fuels.”

  The Mother flapped her elbows against her body. “Yes.” She tapped on the red tablet she held in one hand. “It is sent. Do you enjoy the fruits of trees? We have many types of such fruits available to trade. Your teeth show you eat soft plant foods, like we do.”

  “We do enjoy fruits of the tree,” the captain said. “We have several such fruits. We call them oranges, apples, pomegranates, mangos, more than I can name. We would trade with you while we wait for the gas ship to arrive. What do you need?”

  “A new home,” Hatsepsit said. “Do you humans know of worlds beyond the Empire? We came here from lower down on this arm of stars, hoping to find a warm world with trees not already occupied by people.” She sighed, much as a human might sigh. “My family here are skeptical we will ever find a home beyond the reach of the Empire. But I must try. We have too many children who know only the closed in spaces of our habitat ships.”

  The captain frowned. “We cannot give you the location of our world of Earth. I belong to our protector group and we are sworn to keep our home world safe from this Empire,” he said. “But if we could provide you with some stars that we know possess worlds, stars that lie farther out on our Orion Arm, what would you give us in return?”

  Hatsepsit’s
standing posture changed. She leaned forward more than before, as if eager. “Tell me, your device for travel through the grayness to other stars. How long does it take you to travel? Our device is as efficient as the Empire grayness devices.”

  The captain looked down to the XO, then to Doctor Bjorg, before facing forward. “We travel 25 light years in one of our days.”

  The female’s brown eyes widened. “That slow? You must be very new to star visiting. The standard in the Empire is a grayness device that covers 100 light years in a day cycle.”

  That was four times the efficiency of our Alcubierre stardrive! The prospect enticed me. And the need of the Melanchon for a new home world brought to mind an idea. Did it fit the captain’s criteria for interrupting him?

  “Chief, tell the captain I need to talk to him about this new stardrive deal! He needs to know what I know.”

  The Chief glanced my way, frowned, then tapped his armrest. “Captain, Engineering here. PO Stewart says he has info you need to know about this new stardrive trade thing. Will you listen?”

  The captain’s image showed him frowning, then he looked up. “Mother Hatsepsit, give me a moment to speak with my people. We may have the information you need.”

  “A fruit break is welcome,” she said, looking back and catching a thrown yellow globe that must be some kind of fruit. “I await your proposal.”

  “Stewart! Spill it fast.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  My heart beat fast as I realized I was talking to the entire ship, not just the captain, thanks to his order of an All Ship broadcast of what happened on the Bridge.

  “Captain, Doctor Bjorg and Doctor Murphy can provide you with lists of stars that have known exo-planets in the upper part of Orion Arm,” I said quickly. “Those lists will get you the fast Alcubierre stardrive device. But these Melanchon, and we humans, need more than a place of refuge. When you offer the star lists, why don’t you suggest these Melanchon put out a neutrino signaling satellite above the world they occupy? If the Empire ships show up in their new system, they can send out an FTL call for help to us. And to any other refugee aliens we encounter in the Empire space.” I licked my lips. “Call it a NATO of the Stars. At Great Lakes I learned how NATO prevented World War III during the last century and into this century, until the collapse of the Putin Era made it less essential. That’s my idea, sir.”

  The captain squinted. “A good idea, Stewart.” He looked ahead. “Communications, are there unused neutrino comlink frequencies?”

  Wetstone looked back from his station. “There are plenty, captain. There are billions of neutrino comlink frequencies. That is why we never heard these Empire ships talking with each other. And why they have not heard Earth ships talking at our colony stars. These Melanchon copied our signal frequency to talk with us. Surely they have their own frequency they use among their ships.” The Brit frowned thoughtfully. “And since neutrino comlink signals travel faster-than-light through an alternate dimension, we could hear a call for help as soon as it was sent. Sir.”

  “Doctor Bjorg,” the captain said looking down and to his right. “How many stars with confirmed exo-planets do we know of that lie uparm, beyond Earth and Sol?”

  “Hundreds,” the Swede said quickly. “While the Kepler survey documented more than 4,000 exo-planets lying in the downarm part of Orion Arm that we now know is controlled by the Empire, other surveys documented hundreds of other stars with planets in the uparm direction.” The large man shifted in his seat to look up to the captain. “The major surveys labeled stars as HD or SAO with a number, for the Henry Draper and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory surveys. Other observatories in Chile, Hawaii and by way of orbital scopes documented other stars with planets. Sir, we have a major trade item of great value to these Melanchon folks.”

  Captain Skorzeny slapped his hands together. “Yes! We can get a quadrupling of our Alcubierre speed and maybe create this NATO of the Stars that Stewart suggests.” He looked down. “XO, your thoughts on the NATO thing?”

  Kumisov cleared her throat. “Captain, I like the proposal. We can ask these Melanchon to put up such a neutrino sat when they find a new home planet. It costs them nothing and allows them contact with us, and maybe with other refugee peoples. If EarthGov does not endorse a mutual defense treaty with aliens, well, at least we have a means of talking to them that is faster than a starship trip.”

  “Those are my thoughts too,” the captain said. “Com, activate sound on our side.”

  “Activated.”

  “Mother Hatsepsit, my people tell me we have records of hundreds of stars with known planets that exist further up this arm,” the captain said slowly. “Many of those worlds lie within the liquid water habitability zone. Some stars are yellow, some white-yellow and some orange, which we call G, F and K-class stars. How do we do this trade?”

  The orang leaned forward eagerly. “Wonderful news! While we have our own star watchers, we have been too busy just surviving and avoiding Empire ships to undertake a careful survey of the upper part of this arm. We are most interested in yellow stars with warm worlds and trees, as you can see from our Leaders Chamber.” She looked right. “The Father of my family is there, at the end of this row. His signifier is Woktaken. Like most males he is an explorer and innovator, while we Mothers have created the world culture that led us into the dark cold spaces between stars. I will send him to your ship with the plans for our grayness device. Maybe he can adapt your own device to work like ours. If not, he will show you how to build a more efficient one. Would this satisfy you?”

  “It would,” the captain said. “I have a female who is not yet a Mother but she is an expert on stars and nebulas of Orion Arm. Her name is Cassandra Murphy. I will send her and her leader, Father Magnus Bjorg to your ship. They will bring devices with the needed information for you to locate these stars with planets. In some cases our data includes the size of the planet, how far out it orbits and the nature of its home star. Will that satisfy you?”

  “It will,” Hatsepsit said. “And since you humans enjoy fruits of the trees, I will send a container of our fruits with Woktaken when he travels to your ship. Is this agreeable?”

  “Most agreeable,” the captain said, slapping his ribs with his elbows in imitation of the pleased gesture of the orang-being. “Our trade of star locations with you offers you and us more than an equal trade. We humans have a history of banding together for mutual defense. It has worked well to preserve peoples and cultures through our history.” He tapped a patch on his right armrest. A holo took form to his right. It showed a slowly rotating Earth. “This is our home world of Earth. We hope to protect it from attack by the Empire. You will surely find a similar world for your Melanchon people. I suggest you put in orbit a device that sends out neutrino signals on a frequency unknown to the Empire. If the Empire arrives at your new home, you can ask us for help in fighting them. If the Empire arrives at Earth, we would ask you for similar fighting help. Perhaps we can find other peoples fleeing the Empire who would do the same. Do you like this mutual defense idea?”

  The five orang-beings bumped shoulders. Then Hatsepsit leaned forward. “We like this idea. It is similar to what our Fathers did early in our history when we settled new lands and had to fight off animal predators. The Empire is a group of terrible and hungry predators. No other people should lose their home world like we did.”

  “Thank you,” the captain said softly. “When I send our Father and Mother-To-Be to you, they will provide you with this special neutrino frequency. Perhaps you will let us know when you arrive at a warm world.”

  “We will call you. Now, your star people are welcome to visit us. Our trees will welcome them.”

  The captain smiled again. “I am sure they will enjoy giving your trees a hug. That is something we humans do with our trees.”

  “Most welcome that is!” Hatsepsit said, sounding surprised. “We Melanchon bring our newly hatched children to their family heritage tree to see the marks o
n it from their ancestors. The children always hug that tree. Do you have trees on your ship?”

  “We do, in what we call our Forest Room,” the captain said. “You and other Mothers are welcome to visit and see our trees. Perhaps those who study trees and other living things can each visit the other’s ship?”

  “Very most welcome that is!” Hatsepsit looked to her right. “Woktaken, go obtain the grayness device tablet. Take it and our fruit out to these humans.” She looked back forward. “Our small transport device will visit you in one-tenth of our day cycle. Your own transport device may come when you wish to send it.”

  “I suspect our people will be eager to visit you,” the captain said. “While they are visiting you we will call the gas mining craft to come visit us. We have need of gas isotopes. But we are even more in need of finding friends like you Melanchon. Let us trade together and both benefit. I end this discussion for now. Call me whenever you wish. And we look forward to the arrival of Woktaken.”

  “He will come soon. Perhaps with the help of another Father, and one of our family Mothers to keep the males from arguing too much!” she said.

  I almost laughed. This Mother who led her people sounded so much like Aunt Agatha! My aunt was the boss of her family and a person who knew how to get things done in the family. Clearly these Mothers knew how to use their Fathers to the best advantage of both genders.

  The captain did laugh. “Woktaken and helpers are welcome here. For now, I close this discussion so I may prepare our team to visit you. Until . . . until we speak again.”