Chapter 4: Alive?

“Nice to meet you, Sir. I have to tell you my mother is dead. She and my father were killed in a pirate attack, a little while ago.”

The alien creature paid no attention to what Roy had said. “I am a very old Bellebee and I still get confused using the Avatar technology. This is why I wanted to meet you like this, young Masters. Let Cara and Ukdu talk while I show you a few magnificent sights.”

Roy carefully adjusted the thrusters and slowly followed the huge being.

“Alright, Mr. Moke-Die. I am right behind you, at least if that dark orange-colored section counts as your behind.”

“We don’t really use such designations. Come and sit on me, that way you do not have to concentrate on flying that contraption.”

Roy did follow the advice and Partner followed as well, the animal did not use the suits thrusters yet he managed to steer just fine.

While sitting on the surprisingly hard surface of the beings upper side, Moke-Die said. “Those suits are as marvelous as all Union technology, but I assure you no Bellebee has ever failed to fly while it was alive.”

That was quite reassuring and Roy relaxed a little. “Yes sir, I believe that right away.”

“I am the last Bellebee that came to be before we became Union members. As you may know, we have none of the senses you have. I have no ears, no eyes. Yet this Avatar technology all the younger Belles love so much, gives us simulated ears and eyes, can you imagine how confusing sight can be to someone who never saw anything?”

Roy nodded and then realized the Alien could not see his nod and said, “Yes Sir, I think I can imagine, sort of at least.”

He wondered why the Bellebee was telling him all this, but then, as alien and strange as they were, their old people acted not so different from human seniors. He also noted that they were already many hundred kilometers away from the City. The huge majestic balloons that appeared to move so slow traveled in wind currents of supersonic speed.

The old Bellebee seemed pleased with that answer and continued.

“Your mother has been here on Humongous before she married and moved to Green Hell, working on her thesis. While she wasn’t the only Union Biologist who studied us; there are always ten to fifteen around at any given time; she was one of those who really cared about her work and us in extension.”

Again Roy nodded inside his helmet. “Yes being a scientist was everything to her.”

“She discovered that some of us could get sick from Ozone when it passed through a weakened food membrane. She developed a food supplement, much like you humans need vitamins and eliminated a problem that plagued us for ages and was the cause for the premature death quite a few Bellebees.”

“I will add this to my memories of her.”

“I am telling you this, to explain to you why I dedicated whatever life I have left to her and that self-elected task, of course, extends to you and I did that long before you decided to save us all.”

Roy sighed and looked to Partner who sat next to him behind a shimmering force field bubble of his suit that automatically created a perfect aerodynamic lens-shaped bubble. Roy was certain he had one around him too, “It was not just me.”

“I analyzed the events and I came to the conclusion we would all be turned to nuclear ashes without your intervention, but let us not talk about this.”

“Thank you!”

“When the news of your mother’s death reached Humongous, I was mourning her passing indeed. However, I am Bellebee, young Roy Masters. I collected every bit of data I could find. Fleet Reports, intercepted Kermac telepathic messages, flight plans, and mission parameters and every bit of even remotely connected information. While I analyzed that data, I discovered that a clerk on Pluribus had leaked the mission plan of the UES Zheng He.

“A clerk on Pluribus did what?”

“Giving someone unauthorized access to the flight plan and mission specifics of the Explorer Ship your mother was on. It enabled the pirates to plan a trap and intercept that ship. She and her Kermac sponsored Spy handler have been apprehended and will receive the punishment spies deserve.”

Roy no longer felt bored by the sermon of the old Bellebee. The UES Zhen He was the Explorer of his mother and it appeared the Kermac plot reached further than he knew. He clenched his fist and said. “If there is one thing I learned not to like, it’s spies and clandestine missions and all that.”

The Bellebee elder went on. “I have collected and analyzed everything I could find and due to my security clearance I was able to analyze your recent adventures as well, as you and any data you create are of course relevant to my dedication to your mother.”

Roy watched as they passed two other Bellebees, one of them appeared fleeing from a greenish glob with tentacles and what looked like a round mouth full of teeth. While he wanted to hear more what the Elder had to say, he interrupted. “I think one of your fellow Bellebees is about to get eaten or something.”

“Oh, how wonderful eyes are. Yes, I too noticed the Belsnap with a sense that is related to what humans call radar. This is a predatory lifeform and our natural enemy, but they are rare now. The young Belle out there just play with the poor Belsnap, both are Union Citizens and carry shield generators and weapons.” As if to underline the explanation of the old Bellebee, a bright bolt of energy glared across the violet sky and pierced the green glob and it instantly fell and disappeared beneath the swirling colors of angry clouds. The Old Bellebee said with sad regret in his voice. “There are voices who say we should preserve the Belsnap, and we Elder can see the wisdom in this, but the young ones like the two you are seeing want to be like Terrans. Do not understand me wrong, Roy Masters. We are Union Citizens and very proud of this fact, but I wish the young ones would also listen to the Elders and not trying to emulate Terrans too much.”

Roy frowned and said. “I don’t like killing for sport and no real reason either. Off Worlders try to stomp through our jungles in Armor suits and think the answer is to burn, shoot and blast everything in sight, yet they disturb the balance and at least on Green Hell, they pay the price for doing so.”

“Cara described you well; you are an impulsive teen as the young of humans and Bellebees have been since time begun, but you do have a quality of deep perceptiveness and wisdom that makes you quite different. Your mother was a lot like this and that is why I always considered her a real friend.”

“How about my mother, there is more to what you wanted to tell me, right?”

“Yes, there is more.” The Old Bellebee did go on. “The UES Zheng He was attacked by a pirate ship called the Green Snake, commanded by a pirate known as Captain Coldblood.”

The Bellebee paused for a brief moment and said.

“When I say I am analyzing information, I co-relate info to other information based on meaning, impact, and relationship. While a Computronic can do the same and even faster than us, these machines cannot see the significance of a rumor about a pirate transmitted via Tachyon radio...”

He paused again. “I am trailing of the subject and it isn’t important for you how I operate.”

“You are talking about events that affected and killed my parents, so I am eager to hear whatever you know. I kept myself ignorant and did not learn what I should have. Nothing I learned in the Jungles has any meaning out here.”

“If you look at your life and all the events that occurred to you, all the decisions you made as we do, the Bellebee way, you will realize that everything you did and learned was important in the forming the person you became. The sum of it all influences decisions you make and will make. Your decision to trust your big animal instead of running away forged the first bonds that eventually allowed you to save billions of lives yesterday. If you could see the net of connections I can see, you would be amazed by what effect even the most minute event has on the great whole.”

“Yes Sir, I think I understand, but could you go back again to the Green Snake and that pirate?”

Seamlessly the Elder Bellebee continued: “Analyzing this pirate’s patterns I concluded that he was acting under Kermac direction and the Pirate identity and behavior pattern is a cover.

Captain Coldblood knowing when and where the Zheng He would be at a given time, strengthens this conclusion considerably. Checking many sighting and scan reports, the Green Snake is not armed well enough to take out a Union Explorer under shields, therefore I ordered a detailed trace inspection of the area where the Zheng He was destroyed.”

“You can order something like that?”

“I carry the rank of Rear Admiral in the Union Fleet and I am attached to Fleet Operations like many other Bellebees are. So yes, investigating the demise of a Union Ship falls within my authority and I can and do dedicate assets, within certain limits and frameworks of course to conduct investigations.”

“What did that inspection find?”

“The detail sweep of the region resulted in two specific findings. One is the use of Nul Gravo Mines. Those are very expensive and big. They had to be set up prior by a bigger ship, than the Green Snake and the other result was the discovery of much of the Zheng He’s debris and her logbook drone. We concluded that the bridge module that can be jettisoned as an emergency craft was missing from the mass of debris”

Roy’s mouth became dry and he completely forgot that he was floating in a violent killer atmosphere. “Tell me everything!” He yelled.

“Slaver activity, the sale of such a Union Bridge module on a Golden Bazaar, reported by a NAVINT operative, the content of the logbook and your recent dream where you correctly identified the name of a Klack that was part of the Zheng He crew leave only one conclusion.”

Roy interrupted before the Bellebee could say it. “You mean that there is a chance my mother is alive?”

“The last Log entries describe the attack and that the Module was jettisoned, your parents were present on the Bridge at that time.”

Roy unconsciously had known it the entire time and now as it had been said, there was no doubt in his mind that this was true. “What is done to free them?”

“There is nothing done, Roy Masters. Your parents if they indeed survived, are most likely sold as slaves and all known slave markets are in Freespace.”

“Why not? We got a fleet and we got military for that very reason. That is why it exists.”

“The Union prohibits the trade in sentient life forms, but as big as the Union appears, we are not alone in the Universe. While our ethical understanding and our laws recognize fundamental rights for sentient individuals. It is not a universal concept and many see nothing wrong with slavery and sentient beings are just another commodity.”

“I understand that and I don’t care what others do, but my parents and the others were abducted. The colonists you spoke about were Union Citizen.”

“And have hundreds of societies, the Shiss, and the Nul enter the war as well? No, Roy. The Union can not break the treaty now. We are winning this war, our calculations are correct I am certain, but it is better we concentrate on one enemy at the time.”

Roy became angry. “My parents. The others, I saw other humans in my dreams as well! They are held in terrible conditions. This is what the Assembly needs to do. Free Union Citizens and protect them from being abducted.”

“This is a sore point and is discussed at least once a week at the Assembly. When loved ones make petitions; when raided colonies make the news or when pirates attack civilian ships, but there is no easy solution.”

“Are we not at war? Is the Freespace treaty not voided?”

“I am not defending the pirates or anyone committing crimes against our citizens. I just wanted to explain to you how difficult it is to police and protect every colony and every ship. Space is very big. The distances between star systems are truly tremendous and it is easy for others to find gaps in our armor. An entire enemy fleet made it to our Star system despite the fact we are at war and the fleet is at highest alert.

You just experienced a space battle and the Kermac’s plan to turn the tide of war. The fleet, the Assembly simply cannot guarantee the safety of everyone. We are already at war, going against slavers, breaching the contracts and treaties we have with the Shiss, the Nul and others carry a high risk of War escalation. Our chances to win that war are good, but by no means certain.”

Roy sounded defeated. “But my parents?”

“You know how much we respect your mother, but the chances of them still being alive is not very good and even if your dreams are indeed caused by some sort of long-range telepathic phenomenon, they could be at a thousand different places.”

“If you knew all this; if the fleet or the government can’t help me; why tell me in the first place?”

“The government cannot help you, but that does not mean I won’t help you. Not as a member of the Armed forces, but as a friend of your mother.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, but what could you do? I mean you guys are all smart and analytical, but I think a fast ship and a commando unit would be needed.”

The huge gasbag had an amused tone. “Well, yes we are physically quite limited and more or less stuck on this planet, but you should not underestimate analytical thinking and the application of results. We have many sources of information and I will attempt to find out if they are indeed alive and where they are. Once I can get details, we can make plans, secure the necessary resources and affect a rescue.”

“I need to postpone my trip to Sares and my plans to join the Marines. I need to find my parents, I just know they are alive!”

As he was saying this, he realized. “Cara knew about this, didn’t she and so did Admiral Stahl. They knew there is a chance my parents are still alive and they didn’t tell me.”

“Young Roy Masters. I do not know this Cara and I cannot claim to know what the Immortal Warrior knows, but I analyze information for a very long time. I can assure you that even if the Universe itself will try to deceive you, he will not. There are very few constants in this galaxy, Admiral Stahl, however, is one. Now before you make hasty decisions and let emotions overtake sound reason, please be patient. Heated action without direction is quite silly. We will stay in contact and as soon as I have news I will inform you.”

Roy could not think to say anything else as “Thank you!”

“Now we must first ascertain that they are indeed alive and if they are, find out where they are being held. I might be just a bag of gas to you, but I can access and analyze every rumor, every intercepted communication and that is what I am doing right now.”

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