Chapter 8: Resonance

“She is smarter than I ever realized,” Javier noted to himself.

The man sat down away from the pool. His knees were propped up as he rested his arms on his beard and chin. The water had been dripping from his body and onto the deck. Shira had left to continue overseeing the repairs to the ship. This left Javier once again alone to formulate his thoughts and keep his mind distracted from dealing with his fate. Instead, he tried to think of Shira in an attempt to help keep himself sane. The enigma of her nature seemed to have his mind spinning. It was like trying to solve a riddle.

“Nothing makes sense,” he said to himself. “They attacked Oshun to try to conquer it, but this time they launch a raid on Aphadus. They go to great lengths and only manage to capture me. Shira’s goals seem to be the same, and yet it isn’t. She’s buying time with the Adjunct. Why go through all of this?”

His mind tried to put it together as his finger rubbed his beard. “Maybe it is just a big game. They have cameras in here while they watch the human try to go nuts in figuring out the bigger picture.”

Javier looked around the room and considered it. From his position, he scanned the room for cameras. His eyes wandered around. There was nothing that he could see, but it was still possible that something hidden was tracking him.

“Shira commented that she’s a master strategist. She freely admitted that. It doesn’t sound like she’s a progressive liar. She had to be the person who planned the attack from the beginning. She is devilishly smart. She has to be. She knew things that I couldn’t have, and yet she did. I’m convinced that she was the one that did all of it. She orchestrated the attack on Aphadus. It was perfectly executed with no flaw in it whatsoever. Perhaps ... she is right about this ‘cosmic melody’ of hers. If she is a person, alien or human, that can correctly plan, strategize, and perform the attack on Aphadus, then she is incredibly dangerous. Yet..., she has made no threats to me directly. She has only warned me of the impending doom I face. I feel like I’m just along the ride to witness something.”

His mind began to picture her more and more. She must have made the right points. Was it destiny or fate that guided him to the Garja? Was it the way of the universe, or was it pure dumb luck? He tried to put the pieces together.

“I wonder ... could she be turned?” he asked himself. “Her thoughts make her seem reasonable. I feel like she’s an ally in a distant land. Her actions seem to place her more in the role of a protector rather than an interrogator. If anything, the last two conversations I had with her, it felt like I was talking to a friend ... ugh...”

Javier tried to put it together. He felt like he was the famed ‘thinker statue’ where he had one hand on his chin and beard. The only difference was that he was sitting on an alien warship.

“I wonder what you think, Cason?” he asked out loud. “Was it worth dying to protect a planet? Would you feel happy to watch me get captured and go through this whole mess? What would you think of all this? Heh...” he started to chuckle. “Yeah ... I can picture what you’d say. I’m trapped on a ship filled with female aliens. I’ve been speaking with a topless alien woman. Geeze, the chest on her ... maybe I’ve been looking at this all wrong. I can picture what you would say, Cason. You were always the opposite of my thoughts. I’ve been bleak and down through this. Even Shira understood it. Maybe ... maybe I should just look at this in a positive direction rather than anything else. Yeah, I might be dead tomorrow, but that was always a possibility throughout my whole life.”

Javier tapped the ground as he felt a new sense of contentment enter his body. The fight with Girsha’lar still loomed over his mind. The victory was in part due to Shira’s actions in telling him. She deliberately gave a weakness of the Shal’rein, including even herself, just for his benefit. He couldn’t forget that, and he noted those actions well. Shira, for all intents and purposes, seemed to be looking out for him even during these times. Even the Adjunct’s behavior was evidence of Shira’s actions. He noted that as well.

“I’ve been looking at Shira the wrong way,” he said to himself. “There’s something powerfully deviant and intelligent with her. She sees the universe possibly different than most Shal’rein of her kind. I wonder if that was why they didn’t listen to her at Oshun? I need to ask her more about why they did that. She’s correct. The attack on Oshun was a devastating victory. If Shira were able to pull off the attack on Aphadus as she did, she would have outright conquered Oshun. The Shal’rein at Aphadus dominated the battle easily. Imagine what they would’ve had if they landed on a planet that was almost all water. Even one troopship like this would have had enough troops to harass the Oshunian population over and over again. The damage would have been outright devastating. We would still be fighting the Shal’rein to this day.”

Javier put his mind to explaining the situation. The more he thought about things, the more he felt he was like her. She seemed to be a character who always analyzed events—the work of a strategist and thinker. Her words were wisdom and warning.

“Maybe I am having some thoughts about her. Is that it, Cason?” he asked as he looked at the room. “What would you have wanted? What would Gabatrix have done if he was in this situation?”

The man paused as he kept talking to himself.

“Gabatrix would have never imagined us meeting alien races. He instead retired happily, being the voice of reason for us. He looked to the future and never dwelled too much on the past. He was the embodiment of overcoming diversity and obstacles. He represented all of us and what we would become.”

Javier sighed as he nodded his head. He felt a new sense of strength now more than ever.

“I think that’s what I will do. Aphadus was a tragedy. I may be dead soon as well, but I’m ready. Instead, I will try to learn more about the Shal’rein. Being trapped on a ship filled with alien women ... I guess it could be far worse.”

Javier stood up and began to walk around the room. It seemed that there must have been other rooms like this because he still hadn’t seen much when it came to the other Shal’rein. Probably for the better, at least he thought. He already had to fight one of them. He knew that the fight with Girsha’lar was rough as it was.

“I wonder how much longer before Shira returns?” he asked himself.

While Javier was thinking to himself in the room of imprisonment, something else was going on in the forward section of the carrier. More specifically, Doctor Folar’sha was in her lab. She was looking at the data that was being displayed. The overhead computer screen showed the Itrean alphabet. Her attention seemed focused, with her hands gripping together tightly.

The screen showed the DNA molecule as it spun in place. A separate DNA molecule was projected as the computer began to take it apart piece by piece. It would then resemble together again as it showed more data. Folar’sha’s eyes went wide when she saw the results. She then reached the control panel that was on her desk, and the same series of calculations and tests began to run.

Folar’sha grabbed a tilon from the table. She pulled the two strips apart as the digital screen was displayed in front of her. Then, she pressed a button, and a keyboard-like interface appeared. The keyboard was different. It consisted of 180 different keys displayed in a side vertical format. Her fingers began to punch in a series of commands, and a green light emitted from the tilon.

The doctor looked at her uniform as she wiped off something stuck on it. It floated in the air as the almost zero-g environment would very slowly pull it down.

The door to the lab slid open. Folar’sha took her tilon and closed the two strips together as the digital projection faded away. Another Shal’rein walked into the room, being none other than Shira. She had a calm and collected look on her face as the door closed behind her. The doctor’s tail swung a little bit before she turned to face her.

“Doctor,” Shira spoke to her. “Any update on the tests?”

Folar’sha had a look of surprise on her face. She seemed like she didn’t know what to say at first.

“Doctor?”

“Yes...” Folar’sha replied. “Yes, Lesser Adjunct, I have completed the test.”

“What are the results?”

“I ... am surprised. The test results show that the T’rintar clan propaganda is accurate. Human DNA can be modified to create Itrean sperm, as suggested. There is a likely probability that the Human DNA combined with ours would prove resilient to Zilik’s Disease as suggested.”

“Interesting...” Shira replied. She put her hand to her chin as her nostrils flared slightly on her snout. Her single eye seemed to look away from the doctor. She appeared to be thinking.

“If I can get a human woman’s DNA sample, I can try to run a test on that as well. Itrean’s could be modified with simple ease to create human sperm in turn.”

“We do not have a human woman, unfortunately. We only needed one human to confirm all this.”

“It means...” The doctor explained. “Our people can not only mate with humans, but we also produce offspring together. Do you know what that means?”

“I am well aware of it, Doctor,” Shira calmly replied to her. “We had seen the enemy propaganda, and it all states the same thing ... the T’rintar clan have indeed discovered a way to bypass Zilik’s disease. Male offspring can be born once again with the help of humans.”

“It is all true ... it means that the T’rintar clan isn’t lying. Lesser Adjunct, this is incredible news. The enemy is telling the truth.”

“It most certainly does. The T’rintar and the UWA will have an alliance indefinitely. Strategically, it is not just a sound maneuver but one of survival.”

“Our clan could still gain benefit from this,” the doctor said as she looked at the display. “They...”

“You know that won’t be possible...” Shira replied in her neutral tone.

Folar’sha’s eyes looked down. “This could affect the lives of trillions...”

Shira walked up and put her hand on her right shoulder. It was brief as she pulled it back. “I understand ... I, too, wish it didn’t happen this way. Our clan will deny this evidence regardless. They have become so blinded by the lies of our own propaganda. Hatred fueled over hundreds of thousands of years of almost constant war.”

“It means that I don’t have to be an ivon. If I could get a human ... I don’t have to be both anymore. They would still deny the humans entry into our clan?”

“The humans have allied with the enemy clan. That alone will destroy any hope of an alliance.”

“Even if it means us having males again?”

“Doctor, you know how it operates. The clans think violence and glory are the end result to everything. Art, science, history, and ultimately society all become devoted to one thing ... violence and, ultimately, ignorance.”

“It isn’t fair...”

“There is no truth in this universe but one, Doctor. The universe has no objective. Fairness is a subjective term that we created. When it isn’t fair, we must take action to correct it. Much like the Itrean clans, it is locked in a position of violence and bloodshed. It runs like a star, and eventually, it will burn itself out. The goal is to ultimately break that cycle, where the universe has given us the knowledge to eliminate it once and for all.”

Folar’sha closed her eyes. “Then we are still carrying out with the plan?”

“What I need is for you to run the test again. It shouldn’t take you as long. I want a confirmation. I don’t want this to be a cleverly constructed T’rintar clan trick.”

“Understood, Lesser Adjunct.”

Shira’s one eye looked at the display. She looked hard at the data, seemingly lost in her own void of thinking.

“Make sure that you contact me on my uniform wrist computer regardless of my location. As soon as you run the test again and reconfirm it, tell me the results.”

The doctor did her quick nods to her. Shira expressed no emotion. Her serious nature didn’t show anything that Folar’sha could tell, even with the discovery. The lesser adjunct turned around as she walked out of the room. Her fin-like tail swung back and forth as she left the room.

Folar’sha walked up to the computer panel. She activated the scans again as the data began to be reprocessed. She clicked buttons that seemed to alter the scanning pattern to check for anything she might have missed or forgotten.

Javier waited patiently for over an hour. He sat by the table looking at the skull of the Yutilian. He brushed aside any thoughts of who that alien was.

His underwear was soaked from the pool. The temperatures were just fine, though, even getting out of the warm water. His body had dried, and he felt like he smelled like some sort of cleaning fluid that was in the pool.

The man leaned back in the chair. He was done thinking about anything. He only waited for what was going to happen next. There was no action but one, and that was to sit back and relax.

He was just about to nod off when he heard the door slide open. It was Shira who stepped inside. She had her box of cigarettes with her, but not her tilon. Perhaps it was in a pocket, or she didn’t bring it with her.

Unlike last time, she walked around the pool. She headed straight towards Javier and the set of chairs next to the table. Javier noted that she didn’t bother taking her uniform off like last time.

Shira was quiet as she reached next to him. She looked at the skull on the table and placed the metal tin next to it. She then situated herself and turned her tail as she went and had a seat on the chair on the other side of the table. Javier watched her as she got comfortable and reached into her tin. She pulled out a cigarette and put it in her mouth. She then grabbed her laser lighter and brought it to the cigarette. The tip began to burn as she put the laser lighter back into the bin and closed it. She took a deep whiff of the smoke before closing her eye.

Javier remained quiet as he looked ahead. It had almost turned into a game. He wondered if he should say something first or let her do it. He felt like asking her, but nothing happened for a full minute.

While he was contemptuous, his eyes did wander towards her direction. She remained transfixed on her smoking while she sat back and relaxed. Javier was still waiting for her to say something.

“Your eyes have been buried into me, Javier,” Shira calmly commented, breaking the silence of the room. “What is it?”

“Nothing. I just wonder if I’m going to remain in my underwear in this room. It was awkward when I was escorted to the toilet with Shal’rein staring at my mostly naked body.”

“Would you prefer to be completely naked?”

“No. I was curious,..., that’s all.”

“Hmmm...”

Javier decided to change the subject since the silence was finally broken. “So ... how much do you know of me?”

“More than enough.”

“What do you know of me?”

“From the copied stolen database, you are an Ensign. You serve in one of the logistics of the Aphadus military base. You enjoy history. You made several attempts to become the lead Military Historian of the UHN position, but you never succeeded.”

Javier admitted that she did her work. She was right on the mark. “Yeah ... I almost had it, but there’s some old guy that has the position. I’m waiting for him to retire before he leaves.”

“Rely on his wisdom. Remember that history is important. It is your goal to ensure that history remains unchanged by the many hands that touch it. By the time humanity reaches the trillions, that history can be lost. Do not rush him out.”

“You speak confidently that we’ll reach a higher population in the future.”

“No, but I speak out of knowledge of our past because that is what happened to us.”

Javier nodded. “That makes sense. How good is your historical knowledge of the Itreans.”

“Better than many,” she replied.

“There was something that bothered me. When I went through the given database on the T’rintar clan, I found their knowledge of other alien races to be ... lacking. There are so few alien races that the Itreans discovered throughout the hundreds of thousands of years of surviving history. What happened?”

Shira seemed to think about it. “Besides the Emphra, we have little desire to explore. We expand, but don’t care who we find.”

“It seems so ... boring.”

She took a big whiff of her cigarette. “We did have time periods where we explored and found the rare intelligent alien races. One race that we called the Can’lo.”

“What happened to them?”

“They exterminated themselves.”

“How did that happen?” he asked as he kept his vision on her.

“We don’t know. Four thousand years ago, they had an entire world populated on the other side of the galaxy. They had not mastered any form of faster-than-light propulsion and posed no threat to us. We let them be as they wanted. Later, we sent a ship to study them, and they reported that the entire population was extinct. Their bones littered the planet. Attempts to figure out what had happened resulted in us concluding that they exterminated themselves by burning out their own atmosphere.”

“Why would they do that?”

“They had mastered atmospheric planetary weapons of mass destruction. Similar to nuclear weapons, they simply went to war and used them. The population of billions was completely decimated. No further efforts were made to study them.”

Javier shook his head. “I guess we’re the lucky ones not to destroy ourselves.”

“Both of us,” she corrected him. “We used similar weapons in the past, and it resulted in numerous worlds being uninhabitable. It was why we started migrating further and further away from the opposite side of the galaxy. Old worlds were long gone or forgotten.”

“What other races did you discover?”

“Another one is that of the Venermax. We discovered them about 30,000 of your years ago. Our knowledge is limited. They are a race that is trapped in their own solar system. They have no worlds or moons to colonize and apparently never found a way past faster-than-light travel. Only one attempt was made to communicate with them, and we received an automated recording. It is believed that the population had learned how to transfer their bodies into machines or computers. They believe that waiting is the best method to eventually find new worlds or solar systems that may come close to theirs. They even have a fleet that they are building that will ... carry their consciousness to ... wherever. It is why they call themselves the ‘sleepers.’”

“An entire race of sleepers. I remember hearing something about possible alien civilization concepts that prefer to sleep and wait for things to improve in the galaxy.”

“Perhaps they are correct. The Itreans and the humans may be long gone before they will have the galaxy to themselves.”

Javier seemed to frown a little bit as he thought about those words. “What other races?”

“Hmmm ... there isn’t much else that I know. There is the legend of the Kilina, the race before us.”

“The Kiline...” Javier remarked as he felt like he heard of them. “I do remember hearing a little bit about them.”

“Yes. It is more myth than fact. Only one supposed artifact has been discovered. It is over eight billion of your years old. The historians started to conclude that it was made by an ancient race long ago. A few of the Itreans across the clans also had beliefs that we didn’t create the technology to fold space; it was given to us by another. However, neither side has enough evidence to disprove the other.”

“We had something similar to that argument as well. The Equatis Wreck that was found on Mars provided humanity the gift to fold space. Most believe that the ship was an ancient Itrean ship since it was built around the time they left Earth...”

Javier paused as he could tell that Shira had turned her head at him. Her eye was gazing at him. He wondered if he brought up a sensitive topic or something she would immediately disprove.

“Sorry...” he apologized. “I know that remains an issue with the other clans. I don’t know if you believe that Itrea is Earth.”

Shira waved her hand at him in her calm composure. “To me, it doesn’t matter. I was born on Shal’tar. If the T’rintar clan propaganda wants to keep celebrating that they found the supposed origin homeworld of all Itreans, then so be it. Continue with your story.”

“Right ... the Equatis Wreck had no DNA signatures or remains. It appears it was automated, or at least we think. Inside was the one piece of technology that allowed us to fold space. A few question if the Itreans ever built the ship, to begin with. The issue, of course, is ... well, as you said. There was a lack of evidence from all sides.”

“There might be a way to confirm it. Check the wreckage for the Kiline symbol. It is on the Kiline artifact and might be on the wreck site of Mars. Of course, with little evidence, that could be anyone’s former ship. If it benefitted your people, then at least the wreckage did that.”

“Hmmm ... I will try to pass that along to the historical committees.”

“It should be easy for them. The Kiline artifact is stored in the T’rintar clan homeworld of New Atrea. The Kiline are sometimes believed to be the first intelligent race, essentially being one of the first known civilizations ever to exist, but we don’t know. If the legends were true, they would have become something else by now.”

“It makes sense that there were older races out there. Again, we just never encountered them.”

“That is the general assumption with us. Perhaps the idea with the Kiline is that it is the embodiment of those feelings rather than anything else. The race might not actually exist, but the myth will live on forever.”

“It’s interesting to hear another perspective on all this,” Javier commented to her.

“Indeed. I don’t normally talk like this to others. They normally care more for the latest battle report or the trivial matters of societal living. I know, for example, that things out there are just as important as what is going on in the civilization itself. Worrying about the latest fashion, for example, has less value than another civilization or natural event that could eliminate society’s norms with simple ease. Unfortunately, our clan and the Itreans, in general, are too culturally introverted. Formed over the hundreds of thousands of years of near isolationism, even with the ability to fold space, the Itreans are guilty of ignoring the surrounding galactic environment until it is too late.”

“I remember ... I remember studying the Emphra.”

She gave a hint of a sigh. “You do not know the true threat they pose. Reading the textbooks and experiencing what they had committed are two different events. I myself never experienced what they committed, but I have made sure to study every book, every tactic, every maneuver, every battle, and all concept theories on them.”

“I tried to warn my command staff about them. An entire race that wiped out 15% of the Itrean Empire...”

“More...”

“What?” he asked as he looked at her with shock.

“It was more than that. Those are the conservative estimates. Other estimates say one third.”

A chill ran down Javier’s back the moment he heard that. His gaze on Shira was intense, but she kept smoking as she focused forward.

“A third? A population of trillions?”

She gave a series of quick nods. “There were times the data simply got lost in their onslaught. Entire worlds were lost in the wake of their destruction ... and it all happened fifty of your years ago.”

“I ended up having a nightmare just recently of a battle that waged in space,” he admitted. “I saw their ships, and I think Itrean warships were fighting to the death.”

Her head turned to look at him. Her vision was not aimed at him, though. She seemed to focus her thoughts on him.

“That happened while you were here?”

“Yes.”

“Hmmm ... I have those dreams, as well. You were having dreams of the past.”

“I never studied the battles, though...”

“It doesn’t matter. You saw them, and that is all that matters.”

“What do you mean?”

“The fact is that your mind or something else is warning you. I know this for a fact. They have never been destroyed.”

“What?” Javier responded.

“They are still out there, and they are waiting.”

“I don’t understand. The reports say that they were eradicated. They haven’t been seen in all this time.”

“And that is why you should be afraid. They are survivors, and they will come. I have studied them long enough to know that something like them can never be eradicated. The Itreans feel comfortable. All the clans think that times are good as the veterans that fought them slowly fade and die.”

“That does not make me comfortable thinking about that.”

“Nor should you. Complacency is the death that will end all of this. Let my attack on Aphadus serve as a reminder of what happens when you get comfortable. You think that the Shal’rein are evil? You have seen nothing. ‘They’ are coming, and it will make my assault seem like tossing sand on a beach. The wave will be larger than anything you can ever imagine.”

Javier could feel the cold chill. He put his hand to his head as Shira turned to see his reaction. She nodded to herself.

“But, let us not worry about such things,” she said as she turned her head back forward and to the pool. “It will still be a little while. You still have some time to get ready. You at least have the wisdom to acknowledge that, and that will save your life.”

“Sometimes, I hate having to read history books too much.”

“Quite the contrary. If you read the history books long enough, you will eventually find yourself in it.”

Javier nodded his head. He felt it was right to finally bring up an important question that had been bothering him. “I guess you are right. I want to change topics, though. I am curious. You told me a little bit about your past. You had planned an entire attack on Oshun, but before it took place, they decided to drop your entire plan. Why did they do that?”

She held her cigarette away from herself. Her gaze was focused on the pool of water. “Let me answer the question with another question. Why would the Shal’rein clan commit to ignoring me and demoting me?”

“That is what I’m trying to ask. It doesn’t make sense. Your victory over Aphadus was proof of your ability.”

“Yet there is one problem. Would you trust me with a fleet smaller than the enemy fleet in committing to an assault?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know you enough.”

She did a single nod. “Now, to add more to this story. The Shal’rein fights in a pattern of the gun. To us, the gun is a sacred weapon to defeat your enemy. It is a tool. It is an extension of our bodies. It is life and death. Even on my uniform, the gun and its holster are the way we live and operate everywhere we go. You see it on the Adjunct. You see it on me. You see it on every Shal’rein warrior and crew member.”

“I didn’t see it on the doctor, though.”

“She is one of the few that chooses not to wear it, but she still has her own firearm. To us, the knowledge of the gun is almost a religion. It had long replaced the ancient tridents that we used long ago. Only the individual can use that specific gun. It is buried with our bodies when we die. All Shal’rein children are instructed in how to use firearms much sooner than Aksren and Yutilian. Regardless of your gender or your beliefs, all are required on how to use it.”

“Heh...” Javier chuckled. “You almost sound like some of the people of Aphadus. I swear they must be party-goers with their guns. Cebravis ... our main colony, hates gun rights. They prevent people from owning personal firearms, but Aphadus and Oshun allow personal firearms and the right to bear arms.”

“Banning people from having weapons is up to the politicians and society. However ... certain actions like that would only promote weakness if the military was overrun in a battle. You would never see that happen in our worlds. Even the tridents we use are ceremonial but modified to fire at the enemy. There is no such thing as ‘devoiding the right to bear arms’ because it is a part of our very soul. The end result is that it dominates our thinking. It dominates our tactics and how we fight.”

“I don’t understand, though. Having a gun can be a difference between life or death.”

“True, but to the Shal’rein, it rules them even in ship combat. All warships are equipped with guns. Railguns dominate ship-to-ship battles.”

“You seem to have used your ships to great effect, though, especially on my planet,” Javier noted.

“That is also true. Railguns are effective against stationary targets, and if the target gets close enough, it can’t dodge it. You, the Aksren clan, and the T’rintar clan all utilize missiles and other guided munitions to take out enemy warships from a distance. It is more effective than waging war with strictly railguns.”