Titan 5 - Over a Torrent Sea (25 page)

The question Ruddle was dying to hear tested, therefore, was: How would the respective voters decide who won the debate about which set of standards for debate were more valid, when they would be judging that debate using different standards? The recursion involved was dizzying, and Ruddle was mentally assembling a couple of stanzas about it to amuse her cousins with.

Of course, it wouldn’t be amusing if the debates broke
down entirely, for then the Regent might actually send in troops. Ruddle wouldn’t put it past those Kumpen. It would certainly make things busier at the hospital. Why, lives might even be lost. The thought preoccupied her as she compiled the fatality record for the day. None of the deaths today had been due to violence, but deaths from disease and accident were still all too common, even with the new antibiotic medicines—medicines that a Kumpen regime would force them to give up in favor of homeopathy and spiritual healing, no doubt.

As a result of her morbid mood, Ruddle was extremely alarmed when a loud roaring sound came from outside, accompanied by cries of panic. She rushed to the ambulance lot out front, following the ruckus, pushing past the people who were fleeing inside. She expected to see the worst, some kind of war machine from Kump, maybe an airship delivering troops.

What she saw instead was…undreamt of in her philosophy. An angular object of some sort, smaller than an airship but not by much, was descending from the sky, making a roaring, whining noise as it did so. Bright, multicolored lights, even more vivid than the electrics that had replaced gaslights during Ruddle’s adolescent years, shone from the object, half-blinding her. What she could make out of the object’s shape was bizarre, its contours alien to her experience. “Where did it come from?” she cried to an orderly who was heading inside, grasping his arm.

“Out of the sky! Like a spirit-wain!”

“Don’t be absurd! There’s a rational explanation for this!”

“I’ll be happy to debate that, ma’am,” the orderly told
her, “some other time!” He pulled free of her grip and retreated within.

Ruddle had to admit, she could understand the perception of this thing as a spirit manifestation. It had an eldritch quality to it, she realized as it slowly settled to the ground. The way it crushed the
gwik
when it landed left no doubt that it was heavier than air, yet still it had been able to hover without any visible propellers and only the stubbiest of winglike protrusions. Perhaps her childhood beliefs in the spirits deserved another examination after all.

The noise and wind from the bizarre craft subsided, and Ruddle dared to step forward and take a closer look. It was larger than she had estimated, intimidating in its looming bulk and arrowhead contours. And did she catch a glimpse of some massive form moving inside? It was hard to see through the transparent portion mounted on the high upper surface of the hull.

But then a hatch opened on the side—
sliding
open under its own power, as though with a will of its own. Maybe the craft did indeed have its own spirit. Ruddle ducked behind a tree, though it afforded little cover.

Then
it
emerged. It was huge, terrifying—a massive golden-brown
thing
, walking on two legs but with a long, horizontal body and heavy tail like an
elkruh
. But unlike an
elkruh
’s gentle blue-furred countenance, this thing’s head was as long and angular as the craft it had emerged from, its enormous mouth filled with countless razor-sharp teeth. Ruddle was too frightened to move.

As the monster came out farther, Ruddle realized it was carrying another creature on its back. This creature was built more like a person, even a female, except it was a
giant—Ruddle estimated it was nearly half again a real woman’s height—and had no evident
clarfel
below the chin. She (the pronoun seemed reasonable enough to use) also had a pronounced belly, almost like a pregnant woman.

Another giantess emerged behind the monster, walking under her own power. This one was roughly the same size but with no abdominal bulge; still no
clarfel
, though. She placed a hand on the other giantess’s flank, perhaps to stabilize her on the monster’s back, though it reminded Ruddle of a doctor’s gesture of comfort to a patient. The walking giantess held something in her hand that gave off lights and a high warbling sound, waving it in the direction of the other giantess and studying it intently as though it were some magic talisman. Was this how spirits tended each other’s illnesses? Or was she reading too much of her own experience into something truly unknown?

The hideous, toothed monster had been looking around the ambulance circle, and now its eyes locked on Ruddle. She jumped, and as it began to stride toward her, she scrambled backward, hoping to retreat into the hospital. But she promptly backed into the side of an abandoned ambulance. And there was no time to try to get inside the cab before the monster reached her. Terror overwhelming her, she sank to the ground, her back against the ambulance’s large middle wheel. She prayed to every spirit she’d stopped believing in as the monster loomed over her and opened its slavering maw.

“I am Shenti Yisec Eres Ree of
Titan
,” the monster said. “Take me to your obstetrics wing.”

Even at his most aggressive, Deanna observed, Ree managed to maintain the politeness that the Pahkwa-thanh
cherished—that, indeed, they needed as a people to defuse potential conflicts before they became violent. Instead of roaring and threatening the diminutive, scarlet-skinned hospital staffers into assisting him, he addressed them in a level voice and cast his demands as courteous requests—yet made the underlying threat clear with his body language. (“Amazing what one can accomplish with a civil word and a smile,” Ree liked to joke while displaying his alarming array of teeth. Right now, though, he was employing the implied principle in earnest.)

“Think about what you’re doing, Ree,” she said to him as he carried her into the hospital’s maternity ward, the terrorized Lumbuans hastening to make the preparations he’d demanded. She glimpsed other nurses and orderlies carrying newborn Lumbuan babies to safety, something Ree was willing to allow so long as the needs of his own “patient” were met. “You swore an oath to uphold the Prime Directive.”

“I have a higher obligation, Counselor,” he told her. “And your reminder would carry more weight if not for recent events on Droplet.”

“That was unavoidable. This is a wanton violation of noninterference. Why come here? Why not a warp-capable people?”

“The nearest warp-capable species are either nonhumanoid or prone to belligerence. Lumbuans, aside from their size, are similar enough to you for their child-care facilities to be suitable, and unlikely to present any threat to the child. More advanced facilities would have been preferable, but they have the essentials, and we can supplement with Alyssa’s kit and the
Horne
’s replicator.”

Deanna noted with some satisfaction that the Lumbuan facilities included a birthing chair, which was her preference, although it would be a bit snug for her. However, for the moment, Ree insisted she lie down in one of the ward’s smallish beds and rest. Ogawa moved to her bedside and ran a scan on the baby’s vitals. But her eyes darted to the window as the sound of alien sirens came from outside, drawing nearer. “They’ve called in the police,” she said sotto voce. “I hope they’re as nonviolent as Ree says.”

“That’s what our survey last month suggested. They’re a philosophical people, preferring debate over physical conflict.” Still, Deanna reflected silently, even a normally peaceful species could be dangerous when terrified. And
Titan
had not been able to survey this society as thoroughly as she would have liked; Vidra Tabyr, the new Ithenite petty officer from engineering, had been the only one small and humanoid enough to go among the Lumbuans in disguise. Tabyr had done her best, but she had not been trained for the task. Most of what the crew had learned about Lumbu had come from orbital scans, stealth probes, and monitoring of their radio-band communications, which were still in an early, audio-only stage. Deanna took some comfort in their limited telecommunications and crude motor vehicles, hoping that it would minimize the exposure of this culture to the knowledge of alien life—and delay the response of this nation’s military, which was rarely used but currently on high alert due to ongoing tensions with a neighboring state.

“Ree, think about this,” Deanna said when the doctor came back from securing the doors. “Peaceful or not, those police officers out there see us as a threat, and they will do
what they feel they must to defend their people. My baby and I are not safe here. You must take us away from here.”

“There is no time. You are too close to term. You could deliver at any time. As for the authorities, I will not allow them to harm the child.” The fierce gleam in his eye intimidated her, and her throat constricted.

But she calmed herself and found her voice again. “If you inflict violence on them, matters will only escalate. Hostage situations rarely work out well for the captors. And they will see me as a captor, as a threat.”

Ree whirled to the Lumbuan ward nurses who cowered in a corner. “You! If you would please tell me what you see here,” he said, pointing to Deanna.

“A…a pregnant giantess?” one of the male nurses managed to say.

The doctor smiled. “Very good. And pray tell, how do your people feel about babies?”

“They…are precious to us. Please, I have a young son at home, he needs me!”

Ree strode closer and spoke in a low growl. “Is this true?”

“Yes! I swear! His mother died last year!”

The Pahkwa-thanh lifted the nurse by his collar and carried him to the exit. “Then go. Make sure the police understand there is an unborn child in this room…and that I will devour anyone who brings the slightest harm to it. Then go to your son and keep him safe.”

He unsealed the door long enough to toss out the nurse. One of the younger female nurses straightened up and said, “I—I have a son too! And two daughters! Just babies!”

Ree’s head whirled to transfix her in his gaze. “You’ve
never been pregnant in your life,” he told her after a moment. His head lunged forward, jaws gaping, and Deanna almost screamed. But in a second, it was over—the doctor’s jaws were clamped shut just in front of the nurse’s nose, and her own scream trailed off as she sank to the floor, wetting herself. “Be grateful I need a staff familiar with your equipment,” he told her. “But keep in mind that your value is contingent on your cooperation. I trust my…point…is made?” The nurse nodded, unable to speak. “Very good.” He turned to the other nurses. “Help her clean up, will you, please? This
is
a hospital.”

Deanna’s fear had triggered a surge of adrenaline, which she chose to use by getting angry; maybe confrontation would help where reason had failed. “This whole situation is ridiculous! Look at yourself, Ree! What do you expect to accomplish here? What kind of caregiver leads an expectant mother into a hostage situation where the people you depend on for help have to be terrorized into compliance? Is this really your idea of how a Pahkwa-thanh male cares for a child?” Alyssa looked at her in shock, subtly shaking her head. But Deanna knew that she was the one person Ree would not harm, so long as the child was still inside her.

But her words had no effect. “Calm yourself, Counselor. We don’t want to place the dear child under any stress.”

“You’re creating the stress, Ree! Why can’t you see that?”

Ree came closer, taking her hand. He was suddenly in full Reassuring Doctor mode. “Have faith, Deanna. I have decades of experience as a specialist in obstetrics. Your child is in safe hands with me.”

She studied him. Was there more motivating him than an instinctive response to her projected fears? “It’s important to you to believe that, isn’t it?”

“Nothing matters more to me than the wellbeing of a child.”

“You have so much devotion to children.”

“Profoundly.”

“Then why have you never had any of your own?”

His hand twitched atop hers; luckily he filed his claws, or the mild scratches she sustained would have been far worse. He looked away. “My…professional commitments have not allowed me the time.”

“But you have had offers?” He remained silent. “No, you haven’t, have you? Come to think of it, don’t Pahkwathanh females generally prefer their males somewhat larger and more robust than you?”

He fidgeted. “My strengths are in the mind,” he declared. “They are just as valuable.”

“But are they as valued?” She softened her voice. “It’s not your fault if they never appreciated you. Never gave you the chance to prove what a devoted father you’d be.

“But now you have that chance. Your chance to be the strong, aggressive, masculine one. Your chance to be the father figure you’ve wanted to be all your life. It must be a very rewarding feeling.”

“My only reward will be the safe delivery of your daughter. And her continued safety thereafter.”

“Do you intend to watch over her the rest of her life? You’ve made your point, Ree. You’ve proven your commitment to her safety. You’ve proven your worth as a protector. You don’t need to take this any further.”

Suddenly his snout was in her face, his hot breath ruffling her hair. “Proven my worth? Says the female who called me ridiculous? You’ve seen that I don’t appreciate being lied to, Counselor. It’s intensely impolite. Be as angry with me as you like, but do not deceive me or attempt to interfere with my efforts to protect your child. As you have heard, I will not tolerate lack of cooperation.” He lowered his head, eyes locking on hers while the front of his jaws hovered over her neck. “Your child is able to survive on her own now. I suggest you do not make yourself superfluous to her wellbeing.”

As she looked into his eyes, Deanna realized she had miscalculated. Ree’s concern for the child’s safety did not necessarily extend to her mother. But what terrified her, even more than the implied threat to her own life, was another thought: once the child was delivered, how did she know Ree would let her keep it?