Koban 6: Conflict and Empire (11 page)

“Friend Tet, it prevented any severe deformation or mechanical changes in your ship or of its contents, as you were rapidly decelerated via projected gravitational forces, and brought to a halt in Normal Space, relative to Huwayla. Using a word in your language that seems to apply, you were held static and rendered nearly indestructible, for the brief time required to cancel your momentum. After that, the stasis field was terminated, and you were held gravitationally against Huwayla’s hull.”

Mirikami nodded. “That saved our lives, but there were some unpleasant side effects. Namely, it rendered us unconscious and was very painful, but that was clearly preferable to death. Based on these unexpected explanations, I know exactly what I have to ask you now. Do you know if we can incorporate your advance warning technique in our new ships, to avoid the much smaller Decoherence bombs from emerging inside of them from Tachyon Space, or even from appearing close to their hulls?”

“My friend, the detection of a reflected tachyon wave and identification of one of them as having been time reversed is required, and is a sensory capability that you can develop with our example as your guide. The ability to deduce what is about to happen, and then act quickly on that warning, requires greater speed and computation than any biological response times can provide, even those that you Kobani exhibit. My experience with your most advanced ship AIs convinces me they have the speed and computational ability to act quickly enough, if you permit them to do so autonomously, without requiring your advanced approval to act, which would come too late.”

Mirikami was more than pleased with the direction this consultation had taken. “That’s very gratifying Remela. I’ll ask that you, or one of your sisters, consult with our scientists and technical people on this aspect, but not right now. That has been one of our great worries, that in combat we were unable to prevent Decoherence warheads from entering our ships from Tachyon Space.”

He paused a moment, to note that his cadre of scientists and engineers looked just as happy and optimistic as he felt, learning they were about explore a new realm of physics. Now, for what he expected would be the easiest question for Remela to answer for them. It didn’t appear to involve new physics.

“That time reversed tachyon wave explanation was the toughest part, for me anyway. All that’s left today is for you to tell us how to create the stasis fields, and build gravitational projectors to move objects within the stasis fields. After we avoid the Decoherence bombs, we might want to catch them in a stasis field before they can activate, and get rid of them. Perhaps we could return them to the senders.” He grinned.

The grin proved to be premature.

“We will not do that, friend Tet.” Her answer was a disappointing rejection.

Remela explained that stasis was a time dilation effect of projected dual gravitational fields, one of which formed an internal bubble of extreme time dilation. An outer field surrounded the first bubble, to shield the surrounding space from the intense gravitational spacetime warping generated within the internal bubble, by countering them on the outside. Objects inside the inner bubble experienced a highly reduced flow of time, while outside the second bubble, the flow of time was unaffected.

The odd thing was that Remela was perfectly willing to discuss the theory, and to describe the principle of how the two bubbles worked together. She discussed their projection and the order in which they had to be generated. And then she told them that neither she, nor her sister ships, would ever assist anyone in designing or building the powerful gravitational projectors required. The projector technology was, essentially, the same as what the Dismantlers used to detonate giant planets, requiring only a different combination and application of the two fields they used. It was that technology, which the Krall had subverted and used as a weapon of mass destruction. The Dismantlers refused to help any species recreate that technology, no matter how well intentioned the Federation was.

Mirikami, in his third attempt to explain the limited use intended for the capability, provoked the harshest words he’d ever heard from one of these normally polite, and always gentle speaking, artificial minds.

“We will never help you, or anyone, to develop this technology. We will withdraw from all contact with you if you continue to press us on this subject. You can develop any technology your science is able to devise from your own discoveries, but we will not assist you in this effort. We wish to remain friends, but what you are asking of us is not what we expect from a friend. This matter is of extreme sensitivity to us, because my sisters and I were deceived into destroying worlds that contained billions of intelligent creatures. We suffered greatly from those deaths.”

Mirikami was instantly and genuinely contrite. “I sincerely apologize, Remela. We humans and our other Federation species have never had the capacity to sense the tragic events you and the Olt’kitapi suffered. It was an inexcusable lack of empathy on my part. I overlooked an experience you and your sisters suffered through, and which I’m incapable of sharing directly. Yet, intellectually I knew how you were affected. We will not broach this subject with you again. I apologize on behalf of all of us here, although I bear the responsibility.”

“Friend Tet, I have interrupted my sisters to consult with them on this matter, and we unanimously accept your apology. We wish to remain as advisors to you and the Federation, on matters where we feel competent to do that, although there may be future areas, probably involving technology with military applications, where we may be reluctant or unable to guide you. We will inform you when or if any of those other subjects arise.”

Mirikami was relieved. “I’m grateful you have excused my thoughtless pressure, and I’m delighted that we can continue our mutually beneficial and cooperative discussions. I’ll say goodbye for today, Remela, and I thank you for the tremendously useful information you have provided.”

“Goodbye for now, friend Tet.”

As soon as the link was broken, Mirikami looked directly at Max. “She apparently has no problem with what we might develop concerning gravitational projectors, so long as we don’t ask them for any help. Do you need outside help understanding the projector I severed from Huwayla at Pittsburg II?”

Max winked. “We’ve had it operational on multiple occasions, and have now designed smaller versions that we’ll test soon. I clearly foresee some design changes, based on how she said stasis fields are generated. We had already anticipated the need for two projectors in each of our new ships, one at each rounded end, just as the Dismantlers do, so we could haul or move cargo in space without the need for tugs. That’s why we placed the Bridge at the center of our new ships.”

Mirikami shook his head, displaying a mildly rueful expression. “I wish we could get our young people to quit calling the new ship designs the big Jelly Beans. They want us to use the stealth coatings to make them reflect bright colors when we visit other worlds. They want to draw attention to our ships in Human Space, claiming it’s a form of commercial advertising. I think it’s just a desire to show off.”

****

Maggi wanted only a bit of peace and quiet for an hour. “I don’t know which reverberates more, my ears or my mind.”

Unfortunately, she had to share her Mind Tap results with Sarge and his AI, Grumpy, to give them the latest navigation changes. The rest of the crew of the Sneaky Bastard could also benefit from her latest Thandol language lesson, and learn of her insights into their psychology.

They were taking a shorter but frequently changing route home through the center of the Empire, and she had fresh data that she’d pulled from Captain Halder’s mind. It would help refine their course through the remaining, and predictably altering gaps in the Empire’s monitoring system, which detected movements of ships in the upper dimensions of Tachyon Space.

She had just conducted a fourth Mind Tap session in two days, two each with the Thandol prisoners. There had been dozens of surviving Thandol discovered within the Crusher segment her drone had sheared away, but those two from the transport car were beyond fortunate finds.

The Thandol language, loud and shrill when coming from that arrogant and angry pair, would have proven uncomfortable on merely normal human ears, but some of the most forceful notes extended into the ultrasonic range, to which her wolfbat hearing was overly sensitive.

Their incredibly nuanced speech, with its innumerable inflections, supplemented by trunk and tentacle motions, and having several formal modes of grammar, was a challenge to learn, and she knew impossible for her to fully master. Her mind was numb from trying to grasp the intricacies of that language. A sympathetic word for the personal sacrifice, her ears and mind in this case, was all she wanted to help ease the mental and physical burden of the two arduous days of work.

Therefore, Sarge said as kindly as he could. “Damn well serves you right! If you’d helped me clean the puke off those two at the start, I’d have offered to share some of the negotiating work with you,
Madam Ambassador
.” Sarcasm all but dripped from the title he reminder her she carried.

She was too beat to offer much of a fight after two long days. “What negotiations, you insensitive buffoon? I’m interrogating them, not establishing diplomatic relations. You’ve had more interrogation training than I have, but you’ve sat you ass on the Bridge for two days. And please keep your frigging voice down. My ears hurt, and my head feels like a ringing bell.”

He laughed, and elevated his voice slightly. “Had you been a bit nicer to me, I might’ve let you use these earplugs, with adjustable sound filters.” He showed her two earbuds, often used in noisy industrial manufacturing plants for ear protection, but which granted the user programmable audio filtering for protection from noise frequencies they wished to reduce. She’d had no idea anyone on the ship would have brought anything like those earplugs along.

With a vengeful grin, and now in a loud voice that made her wince, he explained why he had them. “In combat, I don't particularly enjoy loud sounds of explosions and weapons fire, so I carry several sets with me. They help a lot.”

Then softer, he added, “With Mind Tap, I don't understand why you need to hear them speak that godawful noise they call a language anyway. It’s not as if you can pick up a bugle or bagpipes and try to speak it back to them. Why not just let the translator program and voice synthesizers do that for you?”

“Because I don't intend to speak it numbskull. But the software can’t tell me the emotional context imparted with certain statements, or reveal how powerfully they feel about certain words they might mask behind a formal mode of grammar. For example, as I listened to the hundreds of statements made to me in their imperative mode, which they use with subservient species. Via Mind Tap, I could sense how uncertain and nervous they were when I heard them, beneath the arrogance and veneer of the certainty conveyed by their words.

“Now, even without Mind Tap, I know better how uncertainty sounds, and is reflected in tentative tendril motions. We might not be able to Tap one of them as they speak in a video, but if we can see and hear them, we might gain some insight as to how truthful or uncertain they are.

“I’m using that knowledge to help refine our translator software, by learning what physical moderators apply to the harsh loud notes of the words they trumpet at us.

“For example, from Mind Taps, I know they suppress these revealing modifying tentacle twitches and trunk positions when dealing with other Thandol, if they’re political opponents within their heirarchy. Yet, these two contemptuously displayed them to me, confident I was utterly ignorant of their meanings. If not for Mind Tap, they’d be correct. I’m concerned what will happen to the extensive discourse I’m having with them when they eventually discern I’m a female.” She chuckled tiredly.

Sarge looked at her appraisingly. “Not to swell that sore head you claim you have, but how can they
not
detect that you’re clearly a female of our species? They’ve seen most of the rest of our crew, and with three women and the rest males, I’d think they’d have noticed some of the
curvaceous
external differences by now.”

“If I told you the junior officer was a female Thandol, would you be surprised?”

“No kidding? Then I guess I can’t tell the difference between them either.”

“Yes, I’m kidding! They don’t let their females openly engage with males in public. My point was this. They’re alien to us, and you just acknowledged you couldn’t be certain one of them wasn’t a female. We’re equally alien to them, and they have the same uncertainty about us, but with a built-in bias. They believe I’m a male version of human because I’m the one talking to them, and you men, who haven’t talked to them yet, must be the inferior females. That follows from their cultural bias that only a male of a subservient species would presume to speak with them.”

“Well, hell. You didn’t really want my help, or Thad’s help for that matter. You couldn’t have made any headway on your own if they found out your gender. How have you convinced them you needed to touch them when you talk? Their pride in their superiority resented my touching them when I captured them. I was in armor, of course, but Thad and I could partly sense their thoughts through conduction. Both of us were hands-on with them when we sealed them inside two of those Thandol made emergency environment bubbles. We’d seen other Thandol survivors using those things. There were some stowed in the magnetic transport car, where you and I found them. We sensed how much they disliked being touched by us through our gauntlets, as we wiped off their vomit with soft pieces of insulation, then pushed and shoved their chubby asses inside the bubbles in free fall.”