Chapter 2

Days after the project's completion we slowed to enter another system. I plotted our position with twelve well known stars the started categorising the system.

This system was an oddity for two planets were in the comfort zone of the local sun. Names were not frequently given and we relied on an alpha-numeric system. Both planets were warm and wet giving a great amount of plant and animal life. Probes had gone in first to assess for danger. We found an extinct civilizations that had died from outside causes. Some of the wounds to the planet were very old and it was difficult to tell who had killed the race.

There had been a great many starfaring races in this galaxy but sadly most had died from one cause or another. Other races survived as a pale shadow of what they used to be. One race called themselves the T'aucnatchi or T'aut for short. They had been named Gossna by the first race to find them. The Glossna were found in many systems and basically had abandoned their past. They were a metre tall and were of reptile ancestry. Their diet though was vegetarian for the most part and their teeth showed this. At one time they had stood up to aggressors but for the most part now were pacifists without the will or the way to fight back.

Occasionally a post would be put up on one of their planets for trade and educational purposes. Sometimes the younger Gossna could be convinced to join the Seffra. They were very good technicians but poor warriors. The retiring tech would be resettled back on his home planet in the hopes of encouraging others to join.

Other races became allies too but this was basically so they could learn to defend themselves. This was usually a marriage of convenience but one that lasted for a long time for there were still many minor enemies lurking in the further systems.

The Graskor were not minor by any stretch of the imagination. They were a humanoid life form but lived on the heavier gravitational planets. They are very irrational when dealing with all other races and would usually try to kill them if they thought that they could get away with it. The killing seemed to be part of their primitive instincts. Animals and planets are left alone.

The Summa were lizard like creatures and about three metres tall. They were distinctly carnivorous and like to eat other races thinking that it gave them strength. It was believed that this act held their race together as a ritual might.

The Seffra have on occasion got these two races to fight each other without having to die ourselves. Both races were as technologically advanced as we were a few centuries ago. When we became embroiled in a full scale war at the time, we worked very hard to devise new devices and stratagems. For the most part we had succeeded and our enemies had been put back in their place. It was hoped that our explorations would find new ideas that could be used to protect our race even more. Our current military style life was a far cry from what I found we used to be like.

The planet closer to the primary had ruins of a very advanced race that looked to have been killed by kinetic and energy weapons from orbit. Pickets were sent out and a full scale archaeological investigation was begun. In situations like this the investigation could continue for many cycles.

My turn eventually came where I would fly to the surface and assist in investigating what we hoped was a university or a military training centre. We were not sure because the planet's population had been killed more than a thousand cycles ago.

This system seemed to be very important. Instead of allowing me to run some of the machinery the adults took these tasks and I was again a security officer. The party though was now twenty in number and had three children attempting to learn as they tried to find out about this race.

We had worked this site for three days when a storm came up. The three girls left for the ship to process their results and to get away from the frightening sound and lightning. When the storm had passed the children had to return. This required me again to be in two places at once. Our primary landing site and path had been damaged by windfalls. With just myself and the children we went to the alternate landing site after checking the trail. This one seemed undamaged.

The trail was only a hundred and thirty metres long but ran beside a wide river at the bottom of a cliff. I sent out my probes and monitored the information for I took very little for granted.

A cave outside my probes' range now hosted a belligerent form of ape. A half dozen of the creatures decided to throw down rocks on us. This was not that dangerous and I hurried my charges along. The falling rocks though broke loose larger rocks ahead of and behind us.

I worked frantically with the sounds of the screaming children in my mind. I managed to get two to safety but one had fallen. I belatedly used the PK to deflect rocks. Some were so large that I could do nothing about them. I was able though to push the child into a space between two rocks before a large bolder fell. I could hear the child scream. She was very frightened but thankfully not hurt. The large rock could have overloaded her suit. I had to step back now for I was more weary than I thought I had ever been. The girl was now buried under many tonnes of rock but safe otherwise.

The probes attacked the primates to drive them away while I worked frantically to dig the child out from under the large pile. In less than a minute adults were working beside me attempting the same thing. This had to be done carefully for none of us wanted the large rock to shift. In twenty minutes the child was freed but was very shaken up from the experience. An investigation was instigated and the next day I found what was decided.

I apparently had not shifted into that frame of mind that allowed my body to work much faster than usual. Everybody my age could do this to some extent but I had not learned. My record of achievements had been brought up. It showed how good I was in my duties but this simply didn't mean much if I could not react as I should when danger threatened.

This was not a trial where someone actually goes against the community or another individual but it did highlight my failings. Being good at almost everything else didn't help me in this problem. The adults had me removed from all security duties till my situation was reassessed. This caused a great deal of discontent in my family and especially in me for there would have to be an important reason for me to be reassessed. I felt it unfair that they had done this when others of my age had not been given similar duties.

We were going to stay in the system for at least the next few cycles. That was until some interesting finds were made concerning a weapon that destroyed enemy ships from a great distance. We stayed three additional cycles to find more information but I was not allowed to go to either of the planets. I favoured shipboard life but I felt bad about being restricted in my share of even the less preferred tasks. I could detect subtle differences in the people I talked to as if I had let them and our race down. This drove me back into my studies one more time, instead of acting in the correct manner and interrelating with others.

I went to sporting events as I was encouraged to do but I did my best to not compete myself. I felt that if I didn't work hard enough, this would let my team down and again bear the brunt of everybody's ridicule. To compensate, I worked alone in a gym to keep in shape to develop both my body and my mental abilities. Soldoy was the one that provided mechanicals that I would fight. No matter how pressed though I was I was not able to break that barrier and speed my body up. I despaired of never being able to do this.

My body produced more of the hormones that altered my thinking. I was further advanced than what I should be and found that it was even harder to deal with not having a woman. The best I could do was work to eradicate much of the hormones that were giving me this problem This became a major undertaking for there was always too much to deal with.

There were not that many young people on the ship. Our race tended to live a long time and to have a large family seemed unfair because of the resources they would use. In our race's early development we had faced population pressures and then wars and famines. When we began to grow up, those problems did not reappear. The ship we were on could support more but the level of support would drop for each of us. A computer or a life support system could only do so much no matter how efficient.

Some young females did catch my eye and I seemed to catch theirs too. They were not like Jona though and I did not feel compelled to give any commitment. They too were young and not prepared for the type of activities I craved. They tended to be inconsistent in their dealings with young males like me. Rejection even from a young girl was much too much to even be contemplated. My mothers tried to help by guiding me but they could not really give me any realistic answers other than to wait.

Soldoy and I worked out a plan that may or may not help me. I worked on the ship I made and improved it further. The hope was that I could fly this ship and do much better than a probe in trying to search for data our race needed to keep safe.

Communications were only good to a range of four lights. I manufactured the best communications gear I could. Similarly, all the ships systems were improved including the computer. The AI had been replaced with a larger unit I made and felt very protective of her. Half the AIs were female and I felt comforted to have Borin helping me. She was not up to Soldoy's level by any means but she was mine full time. I think Soldoy placed extra programming in the crystal itself to make me a bit less lonely. Here was one female that would not reject me out of hand.

Additional weapons were to be added at a future date. I wanted to wait for the secret of the long range weapon but it had not been deciphered yet. The information was not complete and that was why we had stayed so long to search for the remainder of the data. Everybody was working on this problem. Families worked well in this instance for their group minds were able to find things that individuals could not do.

Nearby systems were searched trying to find ships or bases with a completed unit but it looked like there was only the home planet. With Soldoy's active help the ship was improved much quicker than I had been able to do alone.

My parents approved of the increased effort on the ship and I think they didn't mind me flying it by myself but they wouldn't want me to be away from them for more than a day. All I could do is start with small steps and eventually larger steps could be taken.

My biological mother Looma was going to be the problem this time. She suggested more safety equipment and insisted that I continued with my education while even away for a day. This added a week to my scheduled launch. I even had an emergency pod in the form of the small ship I carried for emergencies. I made small crystals and Soldoy transferred much of our knowledge into them so I would never be without the information I needed.

The family came to the bay to see me out for the first time in the vastly improved vessel The way they thought made me think that I would not be back. I did keep in contact but this only lasted for seconds till I was out of range.

It felt good to be on my own but it also felt bad to be away from all the people I knew and loved. Easy choices could not always be found.

"Borin, deploy the sensor array please."

"Yes captain," came in return as if she were shy. Who ever heard of a really shy female.

We flew thirty lights from Soldoy's probable course and ran parallel to it. Probes flew all around the ship to make our search volume as large as possible. With me further out I could perform a similar duty and cover almost a similar volume of space as Soldoy. Very fast message torpedos would travel between ships to share data or changes in course if we got out of communications range.

I studied and worked on the enigma of the weapon while doing my other shipboard duties. After only one day I returned to Soldoy and my family to show them that I was still very much alive. In a half cycle I was able to stay out for two days at a time without too much problems. We did stop at another system but I continued my own search in an ever widening volume of space.

Borin worked with me to fill in the areas of my training that I was not strong in. This continued even when we were investigating the various systems we found. Two cycles after I started my own surveys I found an interesting system and Soldoy altered his planned course with the crew's approval and searched out my discovery. When the ship arrived we progressed much quicker because I had done a security survey and my own pickets were protecting our backs.

This was an interesting system because it had some similarities with the other system that told us of their long range weapon. Though it was not as urbanised it still might supply some clues. Borin and I flew through the atmosphere trailing our more sensitive sensors behind us. Most of the planet had never been developed but a small strip around the equator had signs of a previous civilisation. It didn't have the characteristic pattern of destruction though that others of this kind had. A high proportion of the planet's surface was land but there were a few small oceans.

When the majority of the land mass had been surveyed I said, "Borin, let's go across the ocean too. I want to check the islands and the continental shelves."

"Yes Captain. I have a pattern worked out." She displayed a way to search the greatest amount of area in the least time. "Is this satisfactory?"

"It looks good to me. Let's see if we can cover that long peninsula too on our way."

The coasts had a higher density of what was once civilization. The peninsula had even more so as if it were a favourite spot to congregate. It was actually a small island only twenty seven kilometres by thirty two that had a surprise for us.

It was presently in the shadow of the planet and we found some signs of intelligent life. Soldoy was immediately informed while I slowed my approach and lost an appreciable amount of altitude. I crossed the island twice within two hundred kilometres. There seemed to be no other areas of this type of life.

Borin brought in the sensor array and we descended to hover invisibly over the land just at the top of the trees. Our shields were at full power and we silently searched, trying to find out more about this small isolated group of individuals.

One of Borin's improvements was invisibility. This feature was usually restricted to larger ships or to specialized shields. Any civilisation worthy of the name could still see us but the primitive ones would have no way of detecting anything about us. We found tools that could be used for weapons. They happened to be spears used for fishing in shallow water. Some knives for the usual chores but were made of fair ceramic and not even metal. Larger knives were detected but these seemed to be more suited to clearing a path in the jungle. A dozen axes were the last of the possible weapons. The majority of the tools though were for their fields that were fed by the common rains striking the island. Very little clothing was worn but I did see some jewellery and musical instruments.

The members were investigated thoroughly by our small probes. We were all surprised to find them to be Gossna. They were just a bit taller but that was only a centimetre over the average. There was only thirteen members in this group and this was not enough for a viable society. We had extensive information about these gentle people and knew the end would come in a few more generations.

They seemed to suffer from a variety of diseases including a deficiency in an essential vitamin. There were few youngsters in the group. This struck me as being strange. I assumed that with such a small gene pool that inbreeding would be a major cause of concern. The civilization had collapsed over a thousand cycles ago and these looked to be what may be the last of the survivors. The group was uniformly thin and it looked like they were not getting enough to eat. Though primarily vegetarian, they could not get all their nutrients from plants alone. Some had to come from the sea.

An inventory of the plants they ate was taken and compared with what they were currently cultivating. There were some wild nuts and fruit harvested and either stored or processed.

"Soldoy, the rules say that I would get the first attempt to talk to these people. Will you and the adults allow me to perform this duty?"

A moment later there appeared to be a bit of hemming and hawing from the adults and then Soldoy said, "You are permitted to do this but your ship has to be put in the third form."

"Borin can protect me. I will wear the proper suit."

"Very good."

I brushed up on their language from the records in my ship. I took two med units and a finer diagnostic unit now both programmed for their physiology. The terminator was an hour away and instead of entering the village empty handed I wanted to bring some food. Various plants could be harvested but I thought that their infrequent departure from this lifestyle might be welcome.

We flew over the island looking for some of the edible plants and Borin's tractors picked a few hundred kilograms for us. We headed into the ocean looking for a particular fish. The teeth, skin and fins were seen in the village so I assumed that they would like this variety.

The type of fish I wanted was a deep water and I had to go down two hundred metres to secure the animal. With one hundred and forty three kilos of fish, I rose to the surface and flew to the island. The fish went onto the beach while I went inland with the ship to drag out some dead wood for a fire.

Borin played a weapon over the large pile of wood to dry it out. Some green leaves provided a large clean surface for the cut fish. Some of the wood was put into a pile and Borin heated this till it dried and started to burn. A med unit checked the flesh and I found that it was digestible by our kind but had a slight diuretic property. Eating natural food was a rarity though we did copy some samples and the replicator provided meals of these commodities.

The fish contained a high parentage of fat and this started to smoke. Borin detected some movement and quickly transported the med units, vitamins and even a few small tools to a place close to me. The nuts, fruit and vegetables harvested landed in a clear area on the sand. Borin energized the field around her and she became invisible to my eyes. Her smallest weapons were trained on the village even though there was nothing there that could get through my own shield.

I crouched low to the ground and used a ceramic rod with five tines at the end to manipulate the portions of heated flesh. The fire was not large and the fish was already partially cooked thanks to Borin.

The Gossna are telepathic but seem to enjoy using their voice just as much. An old male came out of his hut to visit a tree nearby when he saw the small fire. This was not uncommon but then he spotted me turning the flesh. His mind immediately went to a higher level of excitement as fear induced hormones entered his blood.

I slipped into his mind but only in his public area. "Hello, old sire. I have come with my mother's greeting for you and your family. As a token of her love she has provided some food. Please awaken your family and we may talk and dine."

This seemed to be a good enough reason for him to leave so he ran back into his hut and awoke his wife. I could hear both verbal and mental communication that soon awoke more of the village. In a moment I saw many faces peering out of the four huts.

When it looked like I had everybody's attention I repeated my greeting one more time with a few more embellishments. Nobody moved but Borin sent some of the smoke towards them while they thought about my offer.

Some of the cooked flesh was put on some large green leaves while I ate a bit myself. The Gossna did not think of poison or deceit but might react favourably by thinking with their stomachs.

The head woman of the village did come out but two women had fishing spears hidden behind them in their huts. She came half way which happened to be about eight metres and said, "Why are you here?"

"Hello mother. I have come here to carry out the will of my mother. She asked me to bring you food and to see to your health and security. I have come a great distance to do this. When I leave I wish to know that her will has been carried out."

The female thought on this for a moment then after looking around said, "Where is your boat? How many came with you? Where are they?"

"I have come alone with only one boat. It is large and can fly through the air. It was built in the old ways. It is a machine but it is alive too. Your mother's mother's mother would know about this. That is how you first came to this place."

"We came by boat across the water."

"That is true but a long time before that you and your kind came from the stars, just as I have done."

This got them thinking and I turned to move some of the fish before it began to burn. Some was put on a stack of already cooked flesh and more was put over the coals. I knew that they were very hungry and would eat quite a bit. The Gossna looked at what I was doing as if they had never seen this before. When the last sliced portion was cooked I said, "I am going to the water to wash my hands. Please help yourselves to the food." I didn't need to wash but it was a good excuse to get further away so they could get something to eat. I also knew that none of them had performed their morning ablutions and needed to.

I took my time and I saw that the Gossna were talking with voice alone as if this would not allow me to understand what was being said. There were many more questions than answers. One boy in the back slipped unseen to the side of the hut and proceeded to irrigate the plant life. I stayed away long enough for others to do the same.

Getting back to the fire, I took a small knife and picked up a large piece of fruit. The knife took off a bit of the skin and then I cut some of the flesh. It tasted sweet but slightly acidic. I sat with the fruit and continued to eat small portions while I watched the village debate my presence.

The head woman eventually came back to ask more questions. The first one was, "What is the name of your people? We have never seen your kind before."

"My people are called Seffra. Your people's great mother and mine are friends. You have just forgotten that this is the case. Your mother has sent some of her children to help our race in making tools. My mother has used these tools to protect both races."

This got her onto a different topic but she said, "If you can make a boat that flies through the air, why do you need us to make tools?"

"Do your storytellers tell you of Habbsera on the mountain?" This did make her think. It was a story of our two races helping each other to our mutual benefit. Habbsera was the Gossna representative and the fair skinned race were the Seffra. She had come out of the jungle when her village was attacked. She had heard tales of two races fighting each other to the death while one killed her people. It was her bravery at starting negotiations that led to the Seffra fighting her enemies and freeing her people. Years later when the battles were over it was found that the Gossna had to learn to assist in the repair of the weapons that allowed the Seffra to fight.

The head woman finally said, "Are you the race that fought at our side?"

"That is true. It was a long time ago and many of our enemies were hurt on the weapons you made and we used."

In twenty minutes the villagers were eating the fish and even some of the plant products. Another hour allowed me to use one of the med units on the oldest in the village. The results were slow in coming but the individual felt much better. With a lot more talking the devices I brought with me were explained. The vitamins were seen as magical but I had to try to get them to understand science but this would take many cycles.

The small tools I gave them though were very appreciated since they were much stronger and sharper than their own.

I said to Molta, the head woman, "Your land will not get cultivated if we stand here and talk. Let's go to the fields and try the tools. I would like to assist you."

She was not sure about this but her customs didn't say this was not proper. We decided to go and Borin slipped a much larger hoe to me so that I could pick it from the ground as if it were there all the time.

The work was not hard. I was much stronger and larger than they were. I kept to a slow pace so that I worked alongside the Gossna. We came in at midday after doing much more than usual. A small meal was provided by those that remained in the village. It happened to be the fish and some of their processed vegetables. Gourds supplied water.

This time the younger ones came close and looked up to me trying to understand what they saw. When we worked in the fields after a short rest, my hoe would strike a clump of soil and a small clod would strike one or another of the children on the leg. It didn't hurt but soon the youngsters were trying to catch me doing this. I pretended all the while as if I was unaware of this happening.

One youngster was going to tell the others that he had seen me when the top of a weed landed in his mouth. From then on I was watched very diligently.

We ate the same meal later that day as what we had earlier but more was presented. The large fish though had been cut up and smoked. There was little that was going to rot.

After the meal we sat around a small fire and I brought out a similar flute to what the Gossna played. It had just been put there by Borin but the Gossna didn't know that. I played a few notes slowly and listened to their reaction. When I finished the flute was put behind my back and Borin substituted on that was minutely different. The notes the Gossna heard were not the same they played and I needed a slightly different instrument to coincide with what they thought proper.

I played some of the music this village was used to then branched out to simple music other Gossna would enjoy. It was all very slow and pedantic to me but my audience appreciated it. I did stop after a few songs and got them to play with me. Not all of their instruments were tuned alike but it was still like family playing and that was what counted.

Storytelling was an important way of carrying down tradition. Molta asked, "Tell us of your people and ours."

This was easy to do and I started relating historical events and listed the Gossna contributions. The majority of the time the Gossna and the Seffra fought to save themselves and the Gossna did no actual combat. The villagers though were very excited about even the simplistic duties their brethren performed. The stories went on for two hours and they didn't seem tired of listening to what I said in the least.

Molta asked me about our great mother and I explained how our leaders were actually years away and it was only policy to talk to all of the Gossna and other races about their history.

"Your great mother did not really know of our village then?"

"No, we were told to find all of the Gossna settlements and assist them if we could. I was the one that found your world and wanted to come down and help. There are no more of your kind alive anyplace on this world and that bothers me."

"Why is that?"

It was a bit difficult describing genetic defects from a small gene pool but I tried. It looked like they were becoming concerned with this. I explained, "Our ship is very large. It has tools that will repair the problems of too few people. It also can repair a body so that it is like new again."

I switched to a speech about recruitment. This village may be healed properly by our medicine, but they would all be dead in the next few thousand years even if the Gossna did live a naturally long life. I listed more of what our ship and our race had to offer. I knew that they were going to ask so I informed them about education and how they could work as their ancestors did to protect our union. At the very least we could take them to more of their people to live in a much larger community if that was their wish.

A considerable amount of thought was put to my words. In a moment Molta got up and went to her hut. She came out with a ceramic rod with a small jewel on the end and what looked like a necklace. This one had a metallic chain holding a similar frame that in turn secured a dark crystal.

Chapter 3 »