Implacable, page 11
“And we all hope whatever the Wooareek want is something humans will be happy to provide,” Charban said. “Oh, you asked us to question the Dancers about the Wooareek, to see how much the Dancers might tell us about this new species.”
“And?” Geary asked, suspecting that he already knew the answer.
“Wooareek are Wooareek.” Charban shrugged. “Before the brief personnel conflict Dr. Cresida tried formulating some questions about Wooareek technology and science for the Dancers to see if they’d give us any useful information. They were formulated as really amazing ari- as, by the way. I personally would have told Dr. Cresida anything she wanted after hearing them. But the Dancer reply was to the effect that questions about Wooareek stuff had to be addressed to the Wooareek. There are no free lunches in alien space, and neither it seems are there any free data dumps.”
* * *
AS usual in space, any action was followed by an extended period of waiting and watching. The odd-looking Wooareek ship had continued ambling around the Dancer star system at a sedate point zero five light speed, giving no clue that Alliance sensors could detect as to how it was maneuvering. It was forty-eight light minutes (roughly eight hundred sixty million kilometers) distant from the Alliance fleet when Sapphire intercepted it, taking up station as directed by the Wooareek about five kilometers from the alien ship.
Geary watched a message sent from the Wooareek ship forty-eight minutes ago when Sapphire had joined up. Wave Breaks seemed to be in a good mood, but then she always seemed to be in a good mood. “Everything is cool, humans! No problems. We’re going to haul butt now. Catch you on the next phase shift! Peace to all!”
“They can’t be real,” Desjani grumbled.
“Sensors are picking up some odd readings around the Wooareek ship and Sapphire,” Lieutenant Yuon said. “Whatever it is shows up as a slight space-time distortion.”
Geary watched in disbelief as both ships disappeared from his display.
SIX
“WHERE—” Geary started to demand, before his display’s image lurched and slightly distorted images of the alien ship and Sapphire appeared far from where they had been. The vector pointing along their path was impossibly long, indicating extreme velocity. “What just happened?”
“Captain?” Lieutenant Castries said, her voice filled with disbelief. “They went to point five light speed.”
“They accelerated that fast?” Desjani asked. “Check your readings.”
“I did, Captain. And, no, they didn’t accelerate. Our sensors are reporting they went from their starting velocity of point zero five light speed to point five light speed instantaneously. And the Wooareek ship brought Sapphire along with them when they did that. That’s why we lost them. Our sensors were focused on them and when they were suddenly a lot farther away the sensors took a moment to realize these were the ships they were supposed to be tracking.”
“Ancestors save us,” Desjani breathed, leaning to peer more closely at her own display. “If we’d tried to accelerate like that our ship would’ve disintegrated and we’d all be nothing but very thin layers of slime.”
“But they didn’t accelerate,” Geary said. “Did our people aboard Sapphire survive that . . . whatever it was the Wooareek did?”
Nobody answered him. Nobody could. He stared at his display, furious with worry that he’d just watched the crew of Sapphire die, feeling a nearly overwhelming urge to lash out at someone for not knowing something they had no possible way of knowing.
The only thing holding him back was the memory of when he’d been the target of such an assault, screamed at by a superior officer for something that Geary himself could have had no way of preventing. He’d vowed back then never to do the same to anyone under his authority.
But, due to the shock of seeing Sapphire vanish until located again, it was still a near thing.
“Incoming message from Sapphire,” the communications watch reported breathlessly.
Geary let out a gasped prayer of thanks, hearing similar sounds from the others on the bridge.
On the forty-eight-minute-old message the image of Commander Boudreaux shimmered as if being seen through water. Boudreaux’s voice also sounded off, as if it were being filtered through layers of fabric. “We’ve successfully rendezvoused with the Wooareek ship, Admiral. I’m not sure what’s happened. Our sensors show external views as if we were moving at a large fraction of the speed of light, but neither our bodies nor the ship’s sensors detected any acceleration.
“As best as we can determine, Sapphire has been locked to the Wooareek ship. Not physically locked, but some sort of field that creates the same condition. Our sensors can’t confirm it, but our bodies feel that Sapphire is now somehow linked to the alien ship, as if we were one ship. That’s the best way I can explain how it feels.
“The Wooareek sent us a message just before things got weird. They said . . .” Boudreaux hesitated. “Admiral, Wave Breaks said, ‘No worries. It’s all good. Don’t sweat it. Enjoy the ride.’ That’s what Wave Breaks told me.”
“ ‘Enjoy the ride’?” Desjani echoed in disbelief.
“Wave Breaks told us we’re heading for the jump point,” Commander Boudreaux added. “I just got confirmation from my people that our sensors detected some kind of minor energy surge just before things got weird. We’ll send you a copy of our sensor readings. I . . . what? Admiral, our systems are estimating our velocity at point five light speed. We’re not feeling anything, though. Um, no reports of any problems, any casualties aboard the ship. I’d think I was dreaming except as far as I know no one in a dream ever thinks they’re in a dream. Boudreaux out.”
The tension on the bridge of Dauntless had dropped almost as rapidly as it had shot up. “Why is the audio and video on this message so bad?” Geary asked, surprised to hear how calm his own voice sounded.
“Admiral,” the comm watch said, “Sapphire is moving at point five light. At that velocity our systems can’t compensate for the distortions caused by relativity. The quality problems in the message reflect the uncertainties that our systems can’t precisely correct for. I can up the quality, get it looking and sounding good, but that would mean telling the systems to resolve uncertainties with guesses as to what the precise data should be. It’ll look precise, but it won’t really be precise.”
“I understand,” Geary said. “Don’t set the systems to give us guesswork precision. I’d rather make any guesses about what we’re seeing and hearing myself so I know I’m making them.”
He forced himself to relax, trying not to focus too much on what the Wooareek had just done. But when he looked over at Captain Desjani he saw her watching him with a grim expression.
“That was . . . impressive,” Geary said.
“That’s one word for it.” Desjani shook her head. “The Wooareek have got propulsion that makes ours look like oars and sails. I hope they really do want to be friends. Because if they want to fight, we’re toast.”
“We don’t know anything about their weapons,” Geary pointed out.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, her voice flat. “They could only be armed with rocks. You know me. The Taon, the Dancers, they have systems better than ours. If we have to fight them, I will do my utmost to figure out a way to beat them despite their advantages. But these Wooareek? Our weapons couldn’t even engage ships that can maneuver like that. We’d be helpless. You know I’m not exaggerating.”
Geary nodded slowly, his stomach tightening at the thought of how badly outclassed humanity’s latest warships would be in such a fight. “John Senn, the historian, guessed that the Wooareek were so relaxed because they had absolutely nothing to fear from us. It looks like he was right.”
She narrowed her eyes as a thought hit her. “Why’d they show us? After arrival in this star system they just poked around. They didn’t have to do that super jump start going back to the jump point. But they did. They wanted us to see what they can do.”
“Or they simply didn’t care whether we saw it,” Geary said. “Maybe before they were concerned about scaring us.”
“If that’s so, it was a good concern. Because what that Wooareek ship did is scary as all hell.”
* * *
THE amazing manner in which the Wooareek had departed hadn’t done anything to reassure the diplomats aboard Boundless. “We’re drafting possible responses to Wooareek demands,” Ambassador Rycerz had grimly informed Geary. “I assume you agree with those aboard Boundless who say we would have no chance at all if we fought them.”
“Yes,” Geary said. “But nothing about the Wooareek to this point has indicated any interest in fighting us. What do we have that they could want?”
“We have something they want,” Rycerz emphasized, rapping one finger on the desk before her. “The Wooareek were eager for that cruiser to accompany them back to their own star systems. We know it was important to them. We just don’t know why.”
He had no answer to that.
It didn’t help that when Geary had General Charban ask the Dancers what they would do if the Wooareek were aggressive toward the human ships, the Dancer reply was once again all too familiar.
“Wooareek problem, Wooareek fix,” Charban said, looking as if he’d developed another headache. “Have you noticed something, Admiral? Before Lieutenant Jamenson figured out that the Dancers expect rhythmic word combinations as signs of intelligence and understanding, they only used simple words and phrases in responding to our unartfully posed questions. Jamenson recently pointed out to me that when we ask about things such as what to do about the Syndics, or in this case what to do about the Wooareek if they attack, no matter how artfully our questions are framed the replies are as short and simple as when we were speaking the Dancer equivalent of baby talk.”
“What does that remind me of?” Geary said, thinking. Once he considered the people assisting Charban, the answer came immediately. “Dr. Cresida, when she thinks I’m not grasping something simple.”
“Yes,” Charban said. “This feels very much as if the Dancers regard our questions about those particular things to be almost childish. As if we’re expected to already know the answers.”
“How are we supposed to know the answers when we’ve never before met species like the Taon and the Wooareek?” Geary demanded in frustration. “And why would the answers for those aliens be the same as the answer for the Syndics? Could this be a case where the Dancers expect some sort of trade or payment for information?”
“I asked them straight out,” Charban admitted. “I asked the Dancers what they wanted in exchange for more information about the Wooareek. You may be hearing from the ambassador about that.”
“She’s already unhappy with me again,” Geary said. “What did the Dancers reply?”
“ ‘Wooareek are Wooareek,’ ” Charban said. “Sometimes I need to keep reminding myself that the Dancers are friendly aliens.”
For at least the hundredth time since the Wooareek ship had first arrived, Geary called up the star chart the Dancers had provided. “This is Wooareek space,” he said, indicating a substantial region of space containing hundreds of stars. “It’s big, but it’s not huge.”
Charban nodded, moving his hand inside the projection floating above the table to outline the area controlled by the Wooareek. “They have fewer stars under their control than humanity does. If this chart indicates control and not just where a species has settled planets.”
“That’s the problem,” Geary said. “Ambassador Rycerz is worried that nearby species might be under Wooareek control even though those other species occupy the stars in those regions.”
“One of those other species on the Wooareek border are the Taon,” General Charban pointed out. “Lokaa said nothing to us about the Wooareek and seemed to be making his decisions on his own.”
Geary nodded, his eyes on the distant stars. “Those Taon xenophobes would also seem to be inconsistent with Wooareek control. They wouldn’t settle for that.”
“Maybe they’re rebels against a Wooareek-controlled Taon government.”
“Maybe,” Geary said. “Just one more thing we know far too little about. All we can do is make guesses based on what little we do know.”
Charban smiled. “In this case, what we know of the Wooareek implies they think of war as uncool. Peace to all, and all that.”
“For the people,” Geary muttered, the stock phrase of the Syndicate Worlds, which sounded humanitarian, but in reality didn’t mean anything because the CEOs and executives and Internal Security agents saying it didn’t believe a word of it.
“There is that possibility, too,” Charban agreed.
* * *
AN impossibly short time later, the Wooareek ship, and Sapphire in company with it, abruptly and instantly shifted velocity down to point zero five light speed as it neared the same jump point it had arrived at. Moments later the Wooareek ship jumped, taking the Alliance heavy cruiser along with it.
Geary, in his command seat on the bridge of Dauntless, found himself gazing fixedly at the point in space where the ships had been before vanishing into jump space, wondering if he’d seen the first step in an interspecies contact with unlimited benefits, or if he’d just sacrificed a ship full of humans out of misplaced hope.
He couldn’t do anything about that now. All he could do was try to gain some success here. “We need to figure out how to achieve another breakthrough with the Dancers,” he told Captain Desjani.
“Agreed,” she said. “I don’t have any ideas, though. Do you?”
“Not a single one.”
* * *
TO everyone’s surprise, the next breakthrough came the very next day. Somehow, they’d done something right in their encounter with the Wooareek. No one had any idea exactly what they’d done right, but the Dancers seemed to be ready to finally take another step.
A step that involved Geary himself.
“The Dancers want what?”
General Charban had never before come to Geary’s stateroom to personally deliver a message from the Dancers. But this time he had, and Geary was glad that he was already sitting down when Charban delivered it.
“The Dancers,” Charban said, speaking slowly, “want you to visit the surface of the primary inhabited world in this star system.”
“Me?”
“The invitation is specifically for you,” Charban said. He took a deep breath. “And one other person. Captain Desjani.”
“Captain—?” Geary rubbed his face with both hands. “Just the two of us? Visiting a Dancer planet?”
“That’s correct, Admiral.” Charban smiled encouragingly. “It will be the sort of opportunity to learn more about the Dancers that we’ve long sought. And you, of course, will go down in the history books.”
“I’m already in history books,” Geary said. “I’d be happy to let someone else get their name down there. Why do they want me to visit the planet?”
“They didn’t say.”
“Of course not.” He glanced at his display, wondering why he hadn’t already heard from Ambassador Rycerz about this. “I’ll need to discuss it with the ambassador.”
“I’m sure Ambassador Rycerz will be eager to discuss it,” Charban said, unsuccessfully attempting to suppress a smile.
When Charban had left, Geary called Tanya. “Captain Desjani, I’d like to see you in my stateroom, please. It’s urgent.” This was the sort of news that would fly through the rumor mill faster than the speed of light. He didn’t want her hearing it from someone else before he officially informed Tanya of the invitation from the Dancers.
A few minutes later she was standing in his stateroom, staring at him. “What did you say?”
“The Dancers want you and me to visit their planet in this star system,” Geary repeated. “You and me. No one else.”
“You and me,” she repeated, then to Geary’s surprise sat down. “Dancers. Why did they have to be spiders?”
“They also look like they’re part wolf,” Geary pointed out.
“That doesn’t help.” She gave him a resigned look. “I never mentioned this, but I have a thing about spiders.”
“You—?” He gazed at her, bewildered and not bothering to try to hide it. “You have a thing about spiders? You’re the most fearless warrior I’ve ever encountered.”
“Thank you,” Tanya said. “Syndics, hell lances, enigmas, exploding hypernet gates, Kicks, those I can handle without a problem. Bring ’em on. But spiders?”
“What would you do if . . .”
“If I saw a big spider on Dauntless?” Desjani asked. “I’d stomp on it. But it’d creep me out when I did it.”
“Can you handle being down on that planet surrounded by Dancers?”
She looked and sounded insulted at the question. “Did you really ask me that? Of course I can handle it. There is nothing I can’t handle. But I’m not going to be happy while I’m handling it.”
“Understood,” Geary said.
* * *
AMBASSADOR Rycerz was indeed eager to discuss the Dancer invitation. Desjani had no sooner left than Geary’s display showed a call from the ambassador.
Seated in her office on Boundless, Rycerz fixed Geary with a demanding look. “How did you arrange this invitation?”
