Chapter 2

We entered the docking tube, and walked carefully through the shifting artificial gravity fields, moving from Earth's one g to the slightly lower .96 g that the Craxill used. The transition zone successfully traversed, we moved a bit more quickly, until we entered the airlock of the Craxill shuttle.

Two of the honor guard took up station just inside the airlock, and the others followed us into the cabin of the shuttle, stopping just inside the door, and turning to face each other as they stood on each side. Unlike in the docking bay, they stood at attention (Craxill-style).

Our hosts gestured to two couches with human proportions, and said, "Be seated, and be comfortable. Refreshments will be provided momentarily. The first step in our journey will begin shortly."

Priya and I took our seats, and the two diplomats left the room, leaving the guards at their station.

Carefully not even glancing at the guards, who were still socially invisible, I asked Priya quietly, "What can you tell me about this ritual? Fifteen minutes ago, I was sound asleep, and I haven't been briefed. I'm not completely sure I'm awake enough to understand anything complicated, so please use small words and short sentences."

Priya smiled, very briefly, and very nervously, and said, "I'm not much better off than you, I'm afraid. I'm on a different sleep shift than you, so this is my afternoon, not the middle of my night. That leaves me less groggy than you, but no more enlightened. I was studying in my room when Father summoned me. He was already immersed in the Rituals when I arrived, so he could not tell me any more than you have already heard."

I felt my face shift into that bland, fake smile that I used whenever Mother's conversations got too personal, and I struggled to control the panic that I had thought was behind me. "I see," I said with artificial calm, "Well, I'm sure we'll be properly briefed soon enough."

Priya was clearly worried, no doubt for the same reason I was, and despite the age difference and her no-doubt greater maturity, I took it upon myself to try to reassure her. I patted the back of her hand gently, and she turned her hand palm up, and grasped my hand, squeezing briefly before her grip relaxed slightly, leaving us holding hands.

We exchanged smiles, mine slowly becoming natural as I relaxed, and our eyes met briefly. I was beginning to regret that my upcoming marriage would almost certainly not be to her.

"How much of the cultural material the Craxill sent over have you read?" I asked, slowly easing into the topic of my fears.

"Not much, I'm afraid," Priya told me shyly. "I mostly concentrated on the science data. I was studying to be an astrophysicist before we came out here."

"Well, I concentrated on their biology, and the social customs that spring from that," I told her. "I'm not claiming to be an expert, but I'm pretty sure that 'Ritual of Bonding' means a marriage. And I seem to remember a reference to a ritual that symbolized the joining of two clans by an exchange of young adults in marriage."

Priya stiffened slightly, and her grip on my hand tightened.

"My parents promised me they'd never try to arrange a marriage for me, that I'd be free to marry for love, as they did," she said sadly. "But it looks like diplomatic ambition has cost me again." Her eyes were just slightly moist, but there was no other sign of emotion on her face.

I squeezed her hand again, and said, "I understand completely. My mother is quite the fount of ambition herself, and I sometimes wonder how to reconcile my existence with her utter focus on her career. This may be the first time that something will happen that will benefit her that she wasn't the direct cause of. And it wouldn't surprise me a bit if she'd actually managed to set this up somehow."

Priya looked puzzled as she asked, "How will this help her career?"

I shrugged, and said, "She's got a way of turning everything into a boost to her career. As long as I don't screw this up, and ruin our chances of cultural, diplomatic, and economic agreements, she'll find a way to benefit from it."

I wasn't really that bitter about my mother's lifestyle, but I knew that Priya was feeling a bit betrayed, and nervous, and I wanted to distract her. I'd long-since come to terms with my relationship with my mother, and as I've said, I was certain that she loved me, in whatever way she was actually capable of love.

Priya was looking a lot calmer, but I wasn't about to give up the pleasure of holding her hand, so I simply relaxed slightly, glancing around the room and taking in the sights.

As I did so, another Craxill entered the room. This one was female, and dressed in the style associated with their own equivalent of the Space Service, rather than the diplomatic robes of our 'hosts.'

The Craxill female made a gesture of greeting, and to my carefully controlled surprise, used the same 'low-status-greeting-high' form that I'd used when greeting the diplomats.

"May I offer you refreshments, Madam and Sir?" she asked, speaking a remarkably clear form of English for a being with no hard palate, and a vastly different tongue and dental arrangement.

I nodded, then used the Craxill equivalent, and said, "A glass of ice water would be appreciated." Priya shook her head, then said, "No, thank you. But the offer is most kind."

The 'servant' 'bowed' again, and withdrew, returning shortly with a tray containing the requested glass. I took it, and 'nodded' dismissal, and our visitor left, after informing us that we had only to ask, and she would return to assist us in any way we wished.

I'm left handed, and I was sitting to Priya's left, so I didn't have to relinquish my grip on her hand while I drank deeply from the water glass.

I set the glass down on a convenient table, and tried to relax. I didn't want to worry Priya any more than I already had. If my still-new poker skills were working, I looked relaxed, but inwardly I was confused and growing worried. We should have reached the Craxill ship by now, but the slight vibration of the shuttle's engines continued unchanged.

Without warning, the slight blurring of vision and mild nausea of the transition to hyperspace hit me. The sensations hit just a tiny bit harder, and were noticeably longer in duration than the ones we'd felt aboard our own ship.

Priya's eyes were wide with fright again, and once more I squeezed her hand and smiled wanly at her. "Well, she did say the destination was distant," I said with a wry tone.

The glimpse of the shuttle I'd had as I entered the docking bay had led me to believe that it was a small orbital shuttle, much smaller than the minimum size required by a hyperspace-capable craft. On the other hand, whatever we'd just experienced didn't feel like a normal hyperspace transition, either.

Priya interrupted my musings by demonstrating the intelligence that rumor ascribed to her. "That wasn't a normal transition, I'm certain of that. But I'd be willing to wager hyperspace is involved somehow. Maybe the mythical Jump Drive?"

The equations that lead to the final death of 'string theory' and the biggest revolution in physics since Newton co-invented calculus had an easily computed result that lead directly to the invention of hyperspace travel. But there were persistent stories passed around the physics departments that an even more powerful drive was possible, that used the same transition but eliminated the still-lengthy passage in hyperspace that the 'normal' drive required.

The 'normal' hyper drive required a weeks-long journey in normal space from the 'habitable zone' to an area 'empty' enough for the drive to function, plus an extended time (days per light-year) to travel from star system to star system. The trip from Earth to Alpha Centauri A's Oort Cloud had taken a month; if it existed, the mythical Jump Drive would do the trip in nanoseconds.

As I turned this over in my head, I told Priya, "I didn't look at any of their technological data, but if they had mentioned a Jump Drive, I'd have expected to hear about it anyway. If they have it, then either they didn't mention it, or our own people censored the data. I can't say I'd be surprised if they had the capability, though. Their history mentions that they're not native to the Alpha Centauri system, so there's a pretty good chance they have some form of hyperspace travel."

Priya smiled briefly, and said, "In either case, I expect there were a few surprised observers when we 'disappeared.' I hope Mother doesn't worry too much."

I was still glad enough to be on this assignment that I wasn't terribly upset about being awakened, but I got a warm feeling at the thought of the Captain interrupting my mother's 'uninterruptible' meeting to tell her that not only had he sent me off on a mission without her knowledge, but that my ship seemed to have vanished. That'll teach him to send me off without a briefing.

"My mother's not the worrying type," I told Priya, "She's more the 'good-offense-is-the-best-defense' type. I pity whoever they send to tell her about this. She doesn't shoot the messenger, she rips him apart and sends the pieces back as an announcement of her upcoming displeasure. Then she gets mean. Maybe they'll send Rollins. She likes Rollins, she'll probably let him live."