Chapter 9

I sat, immobilized by the rush of data from the ship's AI pouring into my brain, for several hours. The flood was comprised of images and supporting data about what had happened during the Bug 'visits' at various planets. At the periphery of my senses, I knew that Krayshall and Shenthra had wandered away and were being tended to by Jay and the humans.

I drank at this well of knowledge until I could not take another sip. When I called a halt just before noon, I once again sent to Merhnah.

Me: "Merhnah, I must once again ask that you appoint another as Grahhll, here on Yerowl. I now see that everything on our little planet will be destroyed.'

I relayed a brief selection of the devastation that the Bugs inflected on a planet. Especially distasteful was a scan of a pair of planets in the Horn system: Horn 3 and 4. The 'before' pictures were apparently taken by a USN survey ship. They showed a pair of green planets, with only rudimentary societies on Horn 4. There were large oceans and verdant forests.

The 'after' pictures were taken by a pilotless drone ship; the only pilot was an AI. The planets were rocks, perhaps only half the size of the original. There was no life. No trees, no oceans, only deep gouges in the underlying rock, the planets' cores were exposed and everything was volcanic now. Only by looking at the surrounding stars in the background could you even believe that they were the same two planets.

Merhnah: 'I see now that Jay Nelson has not overstated the extent of the threat to us. How does she suggest that we proceed?'

Me: 'May I bring her into our conversation, and also bring in the new Grahhll?'

So it was done. The four of us, me (the old Grahhll), Merhnah (the Matriarch of the planet, Yerowl), G'hann'lis (the incoming Grahhll), and Justice Nelson (Lt. Commander of the USN) came into a meeting of the minds – literally.

I briefly outlined Jay's plan to defeat the Bugs. As I have already pointed out: it was not truly a plan. It was only the tiniest sliver of light in a very dark cave.

Me: 'If I may, Merhnah?'

Merhnah: 'Go ahead, Sh'angreth.'

G'hann'lis was taken back by the use of my name, and Jay was confused.

Me: 'Jay, Sh'angreth is my name. After this little meeting, I will no longer be Grahhll. G'hann'lis will be the new Grahhll.'

Jay: 'Then I hope you don't mind if I call you by the name we have been using amongst the humans. It was suggested by the ship. He named you a 'Shakespeare' – that was the name of the greatest of the human bards.'

Me: 'What did your ship say once? "A rose by any other name..." Certainly, you may call me anything but Grahhll, for that is G'hann'lis' title now.'

G'hann'lis: 'Sh'angreth ... You know that I do not seek this. It seems that two days after never has arrived. Merhnah has brought me 'up to snap, ' as the humans say. She has told my why you feel you must pass on the duties of Grahhll after your bold strike at the Bugs.'

Jay: 'Why? Why must he? Why can't he resume as Grahhll after we destroy the invasion fleet?'

Merhnah: 'Jay Nelson, you are not of our people. We are a peaceful people. The taking of so many lives all at once – thousands of kilometers from our home – this would change him. He could not minister to our people as he had before. It is necessary, I see that now. But it will stain his life force.'

Jay: 'But he... '

Me: 'That is not all, Jay. Think of the aftermath. We destroy ten thousand of the Bugs. Do you not think that the remainder of their mighty fleet will be angered? Your ship has told me that there is no evidence that they have ever been bested in battle. Could their pride withstand such a defeat? Could they just shrug and say, "Oh well"?

'I fear not. We will have to lead them away from here. Engage them elsewhere if we can; let them destroy us if that is fated to be.

'But I cannot stay.'

Jay: 'I hadn't thought about 'after.' They had never been ... I'm sorry to have brought you into this Grah ... Shakespeare.'

Me: 'If you had not, would the Bugs still have come? Yes. Would we then have been destroyed with no chance at all? Surely ... Remember that you have outlined only a possibility of success. If we take your unarmed vehicle out to meet them, we have only a very small possibility of success. Most probably, we will die out there, and then the Bugs will devour our lovely Yerowl ... So we people of this planet thank you for that chance.'

Jay: 'We must determine the range of your communication powers, Gra ... Shakespeare. Excuse me, it is difficult ... And we must do it soon.'

Grahhll (G'hann'lis): 'Sh'angreth must take another ninGrahhll with him. If he should need help in space, he should take help from here. All things considered, I think it should be Krayshall. Excuse me Sh'angreth, I do not seek to doubt your powers, but we have never encountered... '

Me: 'You are correct, Grahhll. And thank you for your suggestion. Already you are proving the wisdom of your taking on the additional responsibilities ... You are correct again that Krayshall would work well as my second on this mission. If we die in space – which after all is the most likely course – then all the hexapumas will die and Kray's death would come about anyway. If we succeed, then he will come away with me anyway.

'I will leave the youngest kits here with you, Merhnah, that they may know the peace of growing up normally. Mercahn's path is already determined, and she will do well under your tutelage. Only Shenthra's future remains to be determined. If we succeed, I will speak to her; if we do not, well... '

We made a world-wide announcement soon after, telling all the people about the new Grahhll, and that I would be traveling to outer space.

Grahhll: (He sent to all the people.) 'No, Sh'angreth. This is not the time to down-play your contribution to the people. He is going to space to face an existential threat to our planet. If he succeeds, he will need to leave the planet – perhaps forever. He will be the Great Grahhll ... Indeed, you all know the humans who came to visit us from space. They have named him Shakespeare, after the greatest of their Grahhlls. So we shall honor him from today 'til the last of our people basks in the sun on Yerowl.'

There was a thunderous growl of approbation at his words and I was struck without words – again.

And then the Grahhll broke the link, and all the 'pumas went back to chewing on antelope meat, or laying in the sun, or playing with their young at the shore lines – in other words, they were going on with their lives and leaving me to get on with mine.

Kray was overjoyed to be coming along on our 'great adventure' to fight the Bugs. He was becoming a very strong ninGrahhll – perhaps I should begin not to call him that. If we survived, he would never be in line to become Grahhll.

That brings me to another point, Jay's stern lecture. On the day after the new Grahhll took over, she cornered me.

Jay: 'Shakespeare, I need to speak with you about your attitude.'

Me: 'My attitude?'

Jay: 'Yes. You keep saying "If we survive..." You need to change your outlook. "WHEN we survive..." is the way we will talk. A positive attitude will help us get through this. I know that the outcome will be the outcome, but we will do better if we anticipate success.'

It wasn't much of a lecture, I guess, but Jay was sincere in her point of view. So I began to think of WHEN we succeed, not IF.

We began to plan. We would take off in the pinnace and go to great heights. I don't even know if "heights" is the right word, because we were traveling on our heads much of the time. It didn't really matter, since the pinnace is so small that up and down didn't mean much.

The cabin in a pinnace was just big enough to hold six seats for humans – or hexapumas – and there was no gravity. As the ship explained to me, the fusion power plant in the rear could generate a small black hole about two meters in front of the craft, thus 'pulling' us forward at an amazing rate of speed. To turn and go in the opposite direction, the craft would turn off the black hole, flip on its axis and generate a new black hole in what was the rear (but now was the new 'front') and we would slow, stop and quickly accelerate in the opposite direction. That wasn't exactly clear to me, but became clear once he (the AI) showed me what it was. Turning left or right (or up / down) was a slower process, since the black hole would be projected only a little off center and the ship would follow it.

It was a bit like putting a carrot on a stick and hanging it in front of the nose of a melshran (sort of like a six legged camel, for you Earthers) – except for the flipping it over to turn direction, if you follow me.

The overall size of a pinnace was very small – it was a cylinder in shape, only about five and a half meters long and about three meters in diameter. The passengers would sit on a chair, strap themselves in, and a clear lid would shut overhead, forming the upper skin of the craft. Sitting on the floor between the pilot and co-pilot was the computer and the black hole projector – I was never sure if the projector was part of the computer or not, and every time the AI tried to explain it to me, I got more confused. The other thing that was a mystery to me was the device sitting on the floor between the second set of seats. It was a 'compensator' that would seemingly eat all the acceleration generated during the ship's travel and leave us all weightless and acceleration-less.