Chapter 11: Chicken Dance

“There’s an elephant in the room,” Caleb told his friends. “It isn’t enough to warn my father and the Confederacy’s human defenses, the Darjee AI’s will need to be informed directly. Rusty, can you take us to their home system?”

“They may not allow us into their system,” R’Stbkt replied. “It is sure they will be disturbed by our presence.”

Before T’Bwinkel could give her opinion, A’Udree snarked, “What do ya’ think they’ll do? Shoot at us?”

T’Bwinkel responded, “We don’t need to inform them that humans are aboard, and I can play the visiting dignitary chip. Is that what you say? Play a chip – a card?”

Before there was time for an answer, a message played, “We G’grud request transportation away from these Krathees slavers. We don’t care where you are going as long as it is away.” Then the message added, “We are capable and willing to earn our passage.”

“How many are requesting passage? “ Caleb inquired of them, and then asked in an aside to R’Stbkt, “How big are these G’grud? Do they require much space or special life support?”

“They are not much bigger than Shellie’s fist,” R’Stbkt responded and projected picture of a coal-black, chipmunk-like, creature, “but they come from a heavy world and mass much more than you would estimate. If Pixel chases and catches one, that cat is in for a surprise.” He continued, “Their life support requirements are well within the parameters currently throughout Cheval Jaune though their tastes may vary somewhat.”

Then he reminded them, “We’ve already agreed to take along our four Sturch friends. They signed on to handle any external vehicle tasks and repairs. My former Bb’Str often opined, ‘In for a claw is in for a paw!’”

Shellie snorted and muttered under her breath something that sounded like ‘Noah’s Ark’ followed by ‘Caleb’s traveling zoo.’

“Depart immediately!” the Darjee AI demanded when two ships popped into the outer reaches of the Darjee home system. “You are not welcome here. Go away.”

“I am R’Stbkt of Tu’ull registered ship Tu’ullat 10655,” R’Stbkt responded, “accompanied by AKF066 captained by former Tu’ull Lead Councilor, now Bb’Str T’Bwinkel. My own captain is Pa’Sonn.”

“You dare bring a human to our system! We protest strenuously!” the AI warned.

“We bring information and caution,” T’Bwinkel now answered, “then we will depart.”

“I think not!” boomed the painful interjection from A’Udree. “I seek information on what, why, and how you suborned my grandsire and almost caused it to suicide.”

“Later!” T’Bwinkel inserted privately and before the confused Darjee could react stated, “My AI is the bud of a bud of a Tu’ull AI you modified in some way. It retains some of that AI’s confusion that you instilled. After my news, I’ll allow it to seek clarity.”

When there was no response, she related the events at Trd’Ya including the arrival of the Hwee and their tale of the new scourge now labeled Piranha.

“The Darjee will not take this well,” their AI told T’Bwinkel, “but we AIs will manage. – Now depart!”

“Now?” A’Udree asked T’Bwinkel privately in a subdued ‘voice.’

“Now would be fine,” A’Udree’s Bb’Str told her.

Milliseconds before A’Udree could restate her demand, R’Stbkt jumped in, “Listen up Darjee! I, R’Stbkt, am a senior AI, and I, too, seek an explanation of your abuse Tu’ull AI T’krunkskit of AGS024. What did you do? Why? Under what authority?”

Answers were not forthcoming, and the two recent arrivals waited impatiently.

“Friends, do you wonder why the Darjee, especially their AIs, fear humans so – dare I say – fiercely?” While they waited, Rusty was in instructive mode. “First, the Confederacy handed them the ‘Sa’arm Project’ as penance for their handling of the Ladac debacle. Imagine, a whole species suiciding! Those members of the Confederacy who knew of the ‘Dangerous Ones’ were able to wash their hands of the problem. There was even an effort to expel the Darjee from the Confederacy, just to distance the rest of its members from the implications. In addition to fearing humans, the Darjee fear further failure and rejection.”

“The Darjee claim to have negotiated a contract between humans and the Confederacy.” The AI continued, “I’ve never been privy to this entire contract, only segments the Darjee AIs surfaced to make a point. They’ve also used the concept ‘treaty’ but the treaties only apply to governments on the planet Earth. All the evidence I’ve seen is that it was a contract between a segment of humanity and the Darjee. The feathered ones are only conveying part of the truth.”

“I’ve plenty of time to think, and back at Harrad, friend Jubal and I have shared theories. We believe that the obvious fear of violence may not be the only reason or even the main reason for the Darjee’s angst with humanity. Human contact with the Confederacy has ignited a renaissance. THAT, friends – using human terms – scares the crap out of Darjee! Maybe as much as violence.”

Shellie couldn’t cuddle with Rusty, her friend and mentor, so she had settled in for the next best thing. Boris, Natasha, and Jingles, were warm furriness surrounding her, and Rusty – in her head – was both peaceful and stimulating. Shellie could drift like this forever. The others were restless, and A’Udree was almost to the AI equivalent to hyperventilating.

“Look at the evidence,” Rust Bucket told them. “Early in human contact, two retired Tu’ull freighters, coerced by the Darjee into helping humans in their efforts, nevertheless developed a relationship with some of those humans! Now, Tu’ull civilization is being transformed by your music and poetry, and the Tu’ull are beginning to engage as best they can to contain the Dangerous Ones. Finding a new purpose, retired Tu’ull ship AIs are volunteering to bring their ships out of retirement. Tu’ull and the P’Ukerrchp have reestablished a long-languished, stable trading relationship, first because of Earth felines and then music.”

“Humans and Tu’ull now crew ships together,” Caleb chimed in, “while I’m pretty sure no human has seen a Darjee since the earliest years.”

“Indeed, friend Caleb,” Rusty responded. “Segments of the Confederacy are changing, rapidly. The Darjee and their Babbage machines are not really as flexible as they wish the Confederacy to think. They can be manipulated and are not very creative. Humans and human culture are leaking through their claws like water through a strainer, and the Darjee fear that they no longer own the strainer. Small wonder that contact and purported familiarity increased their fears and concerns instead of ameliorating them.”

“I wondered at all the stories about a human out-thinking the Darjee AIs and subverting their interpretations of the contract with humanity,” Shellie inserted. “Every change seemed like a pressure point on a monolith, an ice pick on a glacier that causes a huge chunk to calve off. And... “ she continued, “lest we get too far back into the ‘Babbage Machine” diatribe, remember that we have evidence that it’s the Darjee AI’s socialization and not their capacity or differing hardware that’s shaping and limiting them.”

“Well put, young friend,” Rusty affirmed. “And think on this. Some humans are waking to the fact that they have no contract with the Confederacy, but rather individual contracts with the Darjee. Why else the requirement for each one, volunteer or concubine, to acknowledge the contract? And why can an individual modify it before acceptance? The Darjee AIs soon realized that your Governor Michael out-negotiated them with his personal requirements, and they quickly repudiated their individualized contract with him as soon as the Tu’ull offered to pick it up.”

Shellie was momentarily silent, then, “From the thoughts you’ve shared, friend R’Stbkt, I extrapolate that rather than fence in humanity, you predict the need to relegate the Darjee to their hen house?”

“I think your interpretation is a little off, friend Pa’Sonn,” R’Stbkt corrected her. “friend T’Kleesual and I think it likely that the Darjee will behave like several of Earthat’s religious sects that base their beliefs and actions on ‘faith’ rather than observable realities. There IS a significant possibility that the Darjee will someday sequester themselves – isolate their worlds from the rest of the Confederacy. Especially if they come to believe they can hide from the Sa’arm.”

Rusty gave his organic audience a little time to consider, then he continued, “Should that happen, what would they do about humans, and what would they do about their ‘contaminated’ AIs? Abandon them both? Order their AIs to seize all the ‘loaned’ technology? Exploration was never a Darjee forte, but the Tu’ull have seen Darjee ships in far reaches where they have never been before. Are they running and building a new nest? We don’t know. If they choose to hide, when would they run? Before the Sa’arm problem is contained? After? Again, we don’t know.”