We Are Stardust (pt. 5)
Missed the previous parts? Start at the Beginning or Go Back One Part.
Another few weeks passed and eventually Massoud gave up her efforts to teach the Petrans to farm. Hughes began spending more time on the surface, eventually only returning to the Exodus to sleep, and that only because Nyoka had insisted on it.
The next thing I know, he’ll be strutting around naked down there as well. Control of the mission slipped away from Nyoka, and she hated it. Then, both Massoud and Hughes had begun to use the Petran language; Neither took to it as Rivera had, but they became conversational soon enough. What happens if they, too, decide they have no ties to humanity or earth? What do I do with over a quarter-million people if I can’t ensure a steady food supply?
A notification flashed on Nyoka’s HUD, bringing her back from the verge of a restless sleep. It read: AUDIO-VISUAL COMMUNICATION PROGRAM COMPLETE.
DAISy projected a cyan-colored hologram of a genderless humanoid which danced and shook in a near perfect replication of the physical component of Petran. Meanwhile, the verbal portion of the message was playing through speakers cleverly hidden within the body of the projector. At the end of the message, the Petran woman smiled and began to respond.
Moments later, DAISy translated the response for Nyoka, “Your people are welcome here; our fruit will be your fruit, and our children will live among your children.”
“That’s it?” Nyoka asked when DAISy stopped speaking. “Does that mean she’ll allow us to begin planting?”
“One moment commander, I will ask her.” The holographic body began to move again, and DAISy conveyed the clarifying question.
“No, it cannot be. The seeds will fall where they may, and the fruit that grows will nourish all.”
“But there are more of us than you realize,” Nyoka said. “DAISy, double check that she understands the true number of people we have with us. Try to make her understand that there are thousands and thousands of us. Does she understand the magnitude of hundreds of thousands?”
“Commander, she is only repeating what she said. ‘The seeds will fall where they may, and the fruit that grows will nourish all.”
Commander Nyoka sat in her high backed chair on the bridge, communicating with Breath, the apparent leader of the Petrans, remotely. Nyoka was convinced that meeting in person was folly. She needed to negotiate shrewdly and communicate clearly, neither of which could be done under the influence of whatever Petram II did to her and her crew.
Nyoka let out a frustrated sigh. Whenever she tried to discuss quantities or measurable amounts, communication began to break down. DAISy, despite her incredible developments and the processing power she’d devoted to making communication possible, simply couldn’t make the Petrans think in numbers.
“How many of you are there?”
“Enough of us.”
“How much fruit do the various trees produce?”
“Enough for all.”
“Is your population growing?”
“Our grandchildren have children, and theirs have children with children.”
“At what rate do you have children?”
“When the time is right, they too, will have children of their own.”
And so it went, talking in circles.
“DAISy, call the Lieutenant. I have an idea.”
Breath looked up and around, a wild, wide-eyed look. Like a ravenous dog afraid to start eating, she took it in meekly. Her shoulders slumped some, and despite her stature, she appeared small, as if the chrome-bright world of human technology shrank her.
Nyoka took a bit of grim satisfaction at feeling like her point was finally understood. “We are many. I worry that your home won’t sustain all of us.” Nyoka spoke and DAISy’s hologram translated. “We need to plan for the future of my people and your people. The only way to ensure we can all thrive is to adopt strategies that allow us to use land efficiently, plant seeds, and store surpluses to share if there is ever a need greater than current output.”
Breath did not respond at first. She continued to gape at the rows and rows of stasis chambers nestled together like honeycomb cells. Nyoka made use of the silence, explaining that in each slept a human who awaited a chance to begin a new life. She summoned a few to wipe away the frost and allow Breath to peer inside at the peaceful faces. “Only you can help us.”
When the Petran did speak, her whisper struggled to reach Nyoka, and her requisite movements lacked their normal enthusiasm. “May your seeds fall where we guide them, so that your people may find home with us.”
Nyoka handed the seed to Breath, who knelt in the dirt. She placed the seed in a small hole and covered it with more soil. She patted it down. She held her breath.
Whatever consequences she braced herself for didn’t seem to come. She smiled and stood.
Rivera burst into the clearing from the trees. “No! What are you doing?!” In her hurry, she didn’t think to translate. Rivera’s eyes burned with betrayal, but she wasn’t looking at Breath. “I told you they wouldn’t plant seeds. How could you do this to them?”
“Do what?” Nyoka, at first merely baffled at the accusation, felt her cheeks warm as anger welled up in response. “I didn’t do anything. Breath and I came to an agreement.”
“Without my input. You went behind my back to trick them into helping you.”
Breath looked confused and hurt as the two women shouted.
“You relinquished the privilege of providing input into my decisions, for one thing; and for another, I wasn’t aware Breath had given you any kind of authority over her people. In fact, from where I’ve been sitting, it doesn’t seem they have hierarchical structures. I seem to recall that you said they don’t see things in terms of better and worse, superior or inferior. Why would Breath be subordinate to you?”
“You could upset the entire balance of their ecosystem. Of their society. Their entire system of belief is based around a single command that you coerced her into breaking! They don’t need more because they don’t expect it. What do you think will happen when we teach them to count and hoard and compare?”
Nyoka rolled her eyes at the dramatic over-reaction. “I didn’t coerce anyone. I found a way to express our needs in a way Breath could see and understand. I won’t feel bad for helping them overcome a silly superstition, and I certainly won’t feel guilty over making a way for our species to survive.”
Hughes and Massoud rushed into the clearing, each anxious to learn the reason for the commotion. They stood frozen, looking back and forth between Rivera and Nyoka, who were about to come to blows.
Breath stepped forward, hands held out, symbolically keeping the two women apart. “Amelia, all is well.” Both Nyoka and Rivera faced Breath, shocked to silence by her use of earth language. The words tumbled from her mouth without much grace, but as she continued, her confidence grew and the foreign tongue flowed more freely. She had been practicing in secret, it seemed.
“Your First One showed me the seeds of your people. I did not understand that seeds could bear such life. We will plant your seeds.”
Rivera’s wonderment spoiled. “You told her the stasis pods were seeds?!”
Nyoka shook her head, freshly bewildered. “What? No. I showed her the stasis pods to help her see our numbers, so that—”
“To intimidate her? Did you threaten to take the planet by force?”
Massoud interjected, “No! We wanted her to see the magnitude of the food burden so she’d know why—”
“You preyed on their compassion. You obligated them to violate their own consciences to benefit an invasive species.”
“Rivera, no! Are you listening to yourself? You sound delusional.” Nyoka regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth, but was too angry to say so.
Massoud tried to salvage things. “That’s not what I meant. Look, Amelia, this isn’t a conspiracy to harm the Petrans.”
Breath tried in vain to calm Rivera, but the look on her face made it plain she didn’t fully grasp the conflict between Rivera and Nyoka. Her eyes darted between the two. Fear etched lines into Breath’s face. Lines which had never been there before. Rivera took a deep breath and set her jaw. She started to speak, but did not finish, instead turning away from Nyoka. Breath wrapped a large arm around her and escorted her back towards the Petran settlement.
An inhuman scream rang out from beyond the trees, in the direction of the setting sun.
The orange-ish hue of Petran skin made the scene hard for Nyoka to decipher at first; the blood didn’t contrast as strongly as it would have against the various shades of human flesh.
In the forest, a crumpled Petran man bled out on the ground, his face crushed. A second Petran stood horrified looking at his own hands smeared with the thickening crimson gore. At his feet, a drone bore violent red streaks.
Breath held the body and began to weep the deep, sobbing tears of a grief-stricken mother. Rivera, kneeling beside her, holding her, began to whisper something Nyoka could neither hear nor understand.
“What happened?” Nyoka asked.
Rivera glanced up and shook her head. “I told you it would upset the balance of their society.”
Rivera’s voice pulled Breath out of her mournful stupor. She turned to see Nyoka and fury filled her eyes. Slipping out of Rivera’s embrace, she rose, towering over Nyoka, and shrieked. Breath threw herself on Nyoka, her large fingers grasping at the commander’s throat.
Nyoka tried to force open the iron claws and kicked wildly to make Breath release her, but she had the smell of blood in her nostrils.
Rivera launched herself onto Breath’s back, shouting, “Stop! Don’t do this! Please stop!” Breath shrugged and forced her elbow back, throwing Rivera back. Rivera crashed against a tree and fell to the ground.
Nyoka, with her last bit of strength, ducked and yanked Breath’s arms down with her. Nyoka shifted her weight and twisted to break the grip on her neck. She sucked in a quick breath, but the fingers of death scrambled back into place, clamping around her throat. The dark black fathoms of empty space crept into the edges of Nyoka’s eyesight. At the end of the tunnel was no light; only the rage-filled, almost-human face of her assailant.
A quick, hissing hum preceded a sizzle. The smell of seared flesh wafted up from the delicate hole in Breath’s forehead. She fell limply to the forest floor.
Hughes dropped the weapon and sat heavily.
Behind him, dozens of Petrans were arriving to take in the horrific scene. Massoud drew her weapon and turned to face them, ready to defend Hughes if needed.
Nyoka coughed up a bit of blood and sucked in air. As oxygen re-awakened her brain, she rose and stumbled over to Rivera.
Amelia’s head had twisted to an unnatural angle, but she was awake. Her breath came in short gasps. Unswallowed saliva bubbled out as she spoke, “Do you remember the song my father taught me?”
Nyoka nodded, the motion shaking loose the tears which clung to her eyelids. They fell onto Rivera’s skin and glistened like stars.
“Sing it?”
Nyoka swallowed hard, sniffled, and wiped her eyes. “I came upon a child of God, he was walking along the road; And I asked him ‘Where are you going?’ And this he told me…”
