Reavers (Book 3) (53 page)

Brent couldn’t condone the death of those pirates, even if they were cowards who were dooming the fleet.  However, Nobue was perfectly correct.  The pirates were a lost cause.  They lacked the training or sense of duty the troopers and Navy had.  The guild leaders had already proved they would run at the first signs of trouble.  That left him with fifteen minutes to come up with a new strategy that would win the battle before too much of his fleet had jumped away. 

Scanning the displays told him nothing he already didn’t know.  The V fighters were slowly advancing, and the fleet had no more firepower to throw in their path.  If the fleet jumped, it would have to cease most of their weapons fire, and the V fighters would crush every last ship long before they cleared the Wall.  Brent dismissed the displays and walked to the far end of the bridge.  A glance at any monitor told the same story.  Their situation was grim and getter worse.  A gentle hand rested on his shoulder.  Glancing up, he found Cassandra smiling at him.

“At least the kids will be safe, right?” she asked, obviously on the verge of tears.

“No regrets,” Brent said with a smile as he kissed her.

Suddenly, a wash of emotion flooded over him.  At first he dismissed it as embarrassment with a hint of jealousy, but there was more to it - much more.  It was more elaborate and complicated than anything he had sensed before.  Just as abruptly as it had appeared, it vanished.

Glancing around the room, he spotted Jack - a terrified expression filled his face as he too searched the room.  Brent was puzzled.  It was an odd sensation, but certainly not scary.  His eyes grew wide as he put the pieces together.  Jack had been on the first mission to make contact with the aggressors.  He had said he’d felt one of them.  Jack was not an easily frightened man, but whatever was piloting those V fighters had done it - and now something in the room was giving off the same kind of emotions.

Brent let his senses expand and searched the room.  There was nothing out of place.  Whatever had caused the strange emotions was hiding too well.  A thought hit him - the odd girl, the one that had been frightened of him for no apparent reason.  Pushing through the others, he found the girl still clinging to Frank Bosch.  Despite the fact she couldn’t have seen him through the group, her eyes had already been locked on him.  Frank moved to block his approach.

“I apologize in advance, but we are out of time,” Brent said as he pushed the younger trooper out of his way.

The girl was visibly trembling with fear as he knelt in front of her.  With a warm smile he took her hand and the room faded away to nothingness.

As Brent stood in the endless white expanse, he let himself catch his breath.  The girl had been far more difficult than he had anticipated.  She made finding Owen a cake walk in comparison.  She was obviously not normal, although he was one to talk.  With his mind focused again, he searched for the girl.  To his surprise, she was hiding from him, something he hadn’t believed possible in the mist of endless reflection.

It was supposed to be a link between their two consciousnesses; hiding should have been all but impossible.  Slowly searching the white nothingness, Brent finally found her.  To his amazement, she was
floating
.  Not flying or soaring like in a dream, but floating - as if the air were an ocean, and she was just bobbing in the tide.

“I see you aren’t human,” Brent said as he walked under the girl.

“Neither are you,” she said defensively as she wrapped her arms around her legs and curled up into a ball.  “You are similar, but you don’t sing like a human.”

“Sing?  Well I suppose it’s fair to say I’m
unique
.  You, on the other hand, are completely different.  A human wouldn’t be able to float like that.  We are bound to gravity, so in this place we imagine ourselves walking on a flat surface - although technically there isn’t anything here at all.  The fact you float means in your natural state, you are either aquatic or something similar.”

“You don’t sound mad.”

“You think I’m mad at you?”

“You tossed Frank away and apologized; people don’t say they are sorry unless they have done something wrong.”

“Good point,” Brent said with a smile.  “So I take it you are one of the aliens?”

“Reaver,” she said, quickly correcting him.

“Is that your name or your species’ name?”

“My name is Zia,” she said as she swam down toward him.  “We don’t really have a name for ourselves.  Back home, we are the only kind of life.  We never had a need to name ourselves; it was always obvious what we meant.”

“So where did Reaver come from?”

“It’s short for Real Weaver.  Frank thought it up.”  Zia’s face grew warm and content when she mentioned the boy’s name.

Brent raised an eyebrow and thought it through.

“I have a feeling I’ve missed a very long story, one I’d love to hear, but it will have to wait for another time.”

She quickly swam up and away from him as he grew serious.  While her body was obviously human, the way she swam was too graceful for even the most proficient swimmers.  For a single moment, he found himself regretting that she had to walk like a human normally, as it deprived her of such beautiful movements.

“Now calm down,” he said, placating her as he raised his hands slowly.  “I mean you no harm.”

“Then why have you done this to me?”

“Fascinating, you didn’t ask why I took you somewhere.  You know this place isn’t real?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”  Zia blushed slightly as she again grew closer to him.

“Not to the average person.  Even I thought I had been magically transported at first.  Of course, I had the benefit of having the whole process explained to me.  You, on the other hand, figured it out right away.”

“Please, tell me what you want,” she pleaded.  “I don’t like it here.”

“Sorry if I’m not as good a company as your Frank is,” Brent said with a warm smile.

Zia flushed red and hid her face.

“Can you sense the others of your kind?” he asked gently.

“Kind of.  They are . . . well it’s hard to explain.”

“Take your time.”

“Well they are . . . slow.  I think that’s how you’d put it.”

“Slow?”

“Yes, the ones out there are very simple minded.  Their song is dull and slow.  Please don’t take this the wrong way, but they are not quite as bad as some of you.”

Brent burst into laughter as she instantly recoiled into a crouched position.

“In other words, they are far more advanced than us humans, but still idiots compared to you.”  He smiled.  “But they are the same species, right?”

No response came.  The girl was trembling as she held herself tightly.  He knelt down and took her hand.  Instantly a wash of powerful emotions flooded over him, and he fell away.  It took him a few moments to recover from the shock.

“I’m so sorry,” Zia pleaded earnestly.  “Don’t be mad; I didn’t mean to.”

He examined his hand and sat silent for a few minutes.

“I understand now,” Brent said as he offered his hand.

She looked at him and then his hand.  He smiled warmly and nodded.  As she took his hand the flood of emotions washed over him.  Instead of fighting against them, he let himself be taken by the tide and moved along with the emotions until they settled down.

“Your people normally communicate purely through emotions, don’t they?” Brent asked as he got used to the new sensations.  “While you can speak like we do, you are still more comfortable with emotions.  To you, this place feels like death as you can’t feel any emotions at all unless we touch.”

Zia stared at him in surprise.

“I’m quick on my feet,” he said with a shrug.

“You really don’t mean me any harm,” she said as she finally relaxed.  “In fact you . . . like me?”

“Is that so odd?”

“I’m an alien after all, one of the same kind that are trying to kill us.  I didn’t think you’d accept me so readily, I . . .”

Zia’s eyes widened and she quickly glanced about in panic.  The intense emotions momentarily overwhelmed him.

“Relax,” he said slowly.  “Time doesn’t pass here.  Frank and your friends are still safe.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, her fear not wavering in the slightest.

Brent closed his eyes and focused against the strong emotions.  The endless white of the expanse faded away and was replaced by the bridge of the ship.  Their friends were standing around them like statues.  On the monitors could be seen the individual specks of light as they were held perfectly still in time.

“See, still perfectly safe and not an instant older,” he said as the fear slowly faded.

“How do you do all this?” Zia asked in awe.

“How do you communicate through emotions?” he asked with a wide smile.  “What comes naturally to one is often a wonder to another.  Sensing the emotions of others can be useful, but it can also be overwhelming and confusing.  How you can use it as a substitute for speech is beyond me.”

“It’s not as odd as you think.  I’m told learning to speak was an incredible challenge at first.  What takes one of your infants a few years, took us decades.”  Zia paused as she looked over the still statues that were her friends.  “What can we do to help them?” she asked as she locked her gaze on Frank.

“You really do love him, don’t you?” Brent asked.

“I do.”  She blushed and nodded.  “Although, I don’t think he does.”

“You don’t think he loves himself?”

She giggled at the silly question.

“I’ve seen the way he protects you,” Brent said with a smile.  “He cares deeply for you.”

“Is that all I am to him?  Someone who needs to be protected?  He should know I can take care of myself by now.  No matter how long I listen, I can never understand his emotions.”

“Maybe that’s the problem.”

Zia stared at him, clearly not understanding.

“Maybe he
doesn’t
know that, I mean.  Remember, you aren’t human, and I gather he knows that.  If I were him, I’d be worried that I’d hurt you without knowing it.  How would I know what’s safe and what’s lethal to someone from another planet?”

“You mean he thinks that if we get closer it could
hurt
me?”

“It’s only a guess, but it makes sense.  What if your bones were more fragile?  A hug would send you to a hospital.  What if water was poisonous to you?  A kiss would be lethal.”

“He knows better than that,” Zia said, chuckling at the idea.

“Are you sure?  Have you
told
him that it’s okay?  Sure, you
look
human, but we know that’s not the case.  What if he’s worried you can’t have children and would never be truly happy with him?  What if he thinks you live twice as long as he does?  It would be cruel to let you love him and then die, leaving you with another hundred years to be alone.  ”

Zia didn’t chuckle at those ideas and seemed to be contemplating them for the first time.

“Well then, looks like you two have much to discuss.  Of course, you’ll need time for that.  So let’s find a way to save them all, shall we?”  Brent said as he stood.

As she joined him in standing, the view shifted.  They lifted clear out of the ship and continued to rise above the fleet until they could see the entire battle.  The V fighters were hanging in the black of space like models hanging from a child’s ceiling.  Missiles were trapped in perfect stillness, as explosions all around them remained frozen like massive crimson flowers.  The emotions Brent felt from Zia were unlike anything he had felt before.  Only vague hints of familiarity wafted among the odd emotions.

“What can the two of us do against all this?” she asked.

“Well, for one, you can talk to them,” he said hopefully.

“It’s not that simple.  It’s hard to explain.  We . . . speak in the same way, but at the same time . . . we don’t.  I’m sorry.  That’s not helpful, is it?”

“Basically, you speak the same language, but different dialects,” Brent said as he rubbed his chin.  “The basics are easy, but advanced concepts like, say: ‘Stop trying to kill me so we can reach a peace accord’ are next to impossible.  Somehow I don’t think asking ‘Where is the bathroom’ is going to help. ”

She stared at him in surprise.

“That is what you meant, more or less?” he asked.

“How do you keep doing that?” Zia asked as she nodded.

“It’s a gift and a curse, I assure you.  In any case, I doubt grunts and basics will be useful for any kind of peace treaty.  Fifteen minutes wouldn’t be enough time even
if
both sides could understand the other perfectly.  More than that, I doubt their master would let them make peace.”

“Their master?” Zia asked in confusion.

“It’s just a theory of mine, but I don’t think the . . . Reavers was it?”

She nodded.

“I think someone is manipulating the Reavers.”

“Why?”