“Well,” she said, pretending to consider. “We could unroll it and take it over there to where Mikey put these ferny leaves he gathered.”
“And then what?”
“I wasn’t considering rolling it up again,” she retorted with an arch look.
He laughed.
Her developing relationship with Artem was not like the intense one of her younger days with Daniel Ross. It was based on friendship and mutual respect (with a good deal of physical attraction thrown in). Thalia had never felt so alive except for that incandescent moment in her life when she had met Josei.
Belu was of course the main attraction for Astrid and Marcel. Paula was also fascinated by the huge Brai but most of her attention was directed to Slei and their partnership.
Belu was very interested in the way the language of the rebels differed from the Standard he knew.
He laughed long and hard when Marcel explained how a Diaglon space ship caught in the open between solar systems by a Community star ship would resemble a ‘sitting duck’. He wasn’t laughing about the space and star ship confrontation (and subsequent demise of the slow space ship) but Marcel’s description.
“What is this sitting duck?” he asked. “Is it another name for a space ship?”
Marcel tried to explain.
“A duck is a type of bird. A bird is a flying animal with webbed feet. It loves paddling around on water.”
“So do our ltsctas,” said Belu. “But our feet are not webbed. Are they intelligent?”
“Not to a great extent.”
“Do you call your space ships after animals?” Belu was struggling to understand.
“No,” laughed Marcel. “It’s a saying, like, like, I’ve heard Max here saying ‘Lai’s wings’. ‘Sitting duck’ is a saying. It means something vulnerable to an attack by a stronger enemy.”
“I still don’t understand,” complained Belu.
“A duck paddles on the water and is all unsuspecting that a hunter is about to pounce,” said Marcel.
Belu’s booming laugh filled the tunnels.
Marcel spent bell after bell with Belu, discussing technical matters, about which Belu knew a great deal and far, far more than Max and Tavin.
“But you must speak to Dru,” said Belu to the rebel engineer one night as they were sitting around lounging and generally taking their ease. “He runs the engines on the Aikko. He can tell you more than I and will really understand what you are talking about. He will be most interested in this Alcub Drive of yours. Your space ships, the speed! He will be fascinated.”
“You still believe the Aikko is out there, somewhere?” asked Marcel.
“I have no proof,” answered Belu. “But yes. I may not be telepathic as are the Lind and the Larg but I would know if she was gone for ever.”
“Dru is an engineer, Raknu is your Captain …”
“Susa.”
“Raknu is your Susa, Falu is in charge of your weapons, and how George would have loved talking to him, and Jaru manages the comms. What do you do?”
“I am the jandalu ecrana, the environment specialist,” he answered.
“Like the air conditioning?”
“I am responsible for the jandalu on the Aikko but am also trained for evaluating and testing planets. It is a pity Paula is so involved with Slei. I would have liked to talk to her about the local plants and soil. Time passes slowly whilst we are waiting.”
“You speak very good Standard,” said Marcel, changing the subject.
“All Brai on Tak speak Standard,” Belu informed him. “That is why I understand you. Your words and the words spoken by our humans are remarkably similar. Eight hundred years have passed whilst you and they have been separated but apart from some words of Lindish, many of which are descended from those of us Diaglon, it is obvious the language comes from the same linguistic base.”
“So how many languages are there?” asked Marcel.
“Diaglon, Standard, Lindish and Larg. The last two are very similar. Most on Tak speak Standard, which is good for you and your friends as you will be able to understand and be understood. You should however endeavour to learn some Lindish. They appreciate it.”
It was at this moment that Marcel finally accepted the fact that he, Astrid, Paula and the three Orumcek would not be returning to their own sector of space. They didn’t possess a space ship that could take them. Even if the Diaglon gave them a space ship, and Marcel could see no reason why they should, the journey would take decades.
“There will be plenty work for you to do on Tak,” Belu promised. “You will be welcomed, especially by the artificers and those of our own of scientific bent. Do not worry Marcel, you will have many friends on Tak, including me.”
Marcel was comforted but he couldn’t help but wonder what life would be like there. It might, he decided, feel good not to live the rebel life any more.
Astrid spent her time, for the most part close to the Orumcek, tending to their needs. They were sleeping more now as the eggs attached to their underbellies began growing bigger. They required an inordinate amount of food to help feed the egg growth and Astrid spent a lot of time chopping and filleting chunks of doody meat. She was helped with this onerous task by Mikey (when there wasn’t anything more interesting happening to capture his attention) and with Christel and Rodick. These two had eyes for little more than each other these days. Christel had managed to reconcile her worries about getting too attached to a man who might be killed at any time and her love for him.
Zeb, Hael, Jack and Jon with their Lind did most of the doody hunting as well as the nut and berry gathering.
They neither saw nor heard any signs of anyone looking for them.
* * * * *
Belu was deep in conversation with Paula when the communications device sitting beside him emitted what Paula later described as a burp as it crackled into life.
“At last,” exclaimed Belu in his own language.
Fascinated, Paula listened in to Belu’s side of what became a very long conversation. As she sat, word spread and the others began to join them. They sat or stood round Belu in silence, like a bevy or worshippers contemplating their godhead.
At last the device went silent and Belu turned his glistening black head and looked at them.
Thalia watched as a great luminous tear fell from his right eye. She held her breath. Surely this could only mean one thing?
“Rescue is close,” Belu said, his deep voice pitched slightly higher than usual. “Our space ships are in orbit. Others are with them. The space-fleet will meet with the Community star ships within ten tvans. None of them can travel as fast as the star ships of the Community but it makes no matter. In orbit it is the weapon systems that make the difference.”
His tail was twitching but he didn’t appear to be aware that it was.
“They have been tracking the star ships for some days from behind a sun that is close by, a gas giant with much cover. They have been keeping communication silence for fear their transmissions would be detected.”
“Your space ships, as far as I have been able to learn, will be more than able to hold their own against the star ships,” Marcel pointed out to them all. “Belu will have told his superiors this. The star ships may be fast but it takes at least two hours for the Alcub Drive to gain enough power to fire their vessel away from a planet, especially one as large and dense as this one. With a bit of luck your attacking groups will be able to hit them hard enough and quick enough so that the Alcub Drives are disabled. They should at least cause enough damage so that the Captains will be forced to surrender as their star ships are not space-worthy.”
“But where have our four space ships been?’ demanded Artem.
“How did they get here without being detected?” asked Thalia.
“The Aikko and her sisters have been hiding on the large moon we can see in the distance at night,” answered Belu.
“On? Not orbiting? I thought the verustas could not land.”
<
br /> “On,” Belu confirmed. “It was difficult for them but the moon has no atmosphere which made the difference. The Community star ships did not see them. Perhaps they were not expecting to find other space ships here. When the Community’s attack on the rebel star ships began, our Susyc ordered his group down, realising that three verustas would not be enough to turn hunter into hunted. If they had joined in that battle their fate would have been the same as the three the Community destroyed. At that point the Alcub Drives were fully operational and the enemy was closing in on the planet at speed. So they left and once hidden communicated what had happened to Gtrathlin Larku. Reinforcements were sent, another eight space ships, but it has taken them time to get here. The battle should be commencing now. No one is to go outside. There may be debris.”
Inside the underground complex tension was at fever pitch as they waited for news of the outcome of the orbital battle.
Belu confided in Artem that although the Diaglon would normally not attack any other living creature without warning as they were doing now, the rule had been waived as soon as he, Belu had spoken to the Susyc in charge of the Diaglon space fleet. The fact that the star ships and the people sent to the surface had obliterated the rebel enclosure and the headquarters dom without warning and without giving the occupants the chance to surrender had decided them (they would confirm later that both the Third and Fourth Vadryz had suffered a similar fate).
“A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye,” said Paula, with grim satisfaction when she heard this. “It is an ancient saying and not a praiseworthy one, but even the most peaceful amongst us must admit that it is a good judgement call.”
Not long after Paula had made this comment and had explained it to everyone - the Lind thought it a very good saying and exactly right in the circumstances, they heard two enormous, individual explosions.
They sounded close and people and Lind threw themselves on to the ground. Belu pressed his body against a rock wall.
Belu’s communications device burped but he did not hear it. He was too busy covering his knobbly ears.
Marcel shouted out that they should open their mouths lest the shockwave damage their eardrums.
The entrance to the complex was through a long, narrow tunnel and it was through that tunnel that they found out what the demise of a large star ship in close orbit was like.
There was a blinding white flash that hurt their eyes.
The communications device burped again and this time Belu heard it. He translated what he was hearing as fast as he could and shouted the words out as loud as he was able.
“The Community star ships were damaged by ours. They could not get away. The Susyc believes they decided to self-destruct rather than surrender. They fell out of orbit. The smaller of the two burned up in the atmosphere but the large one did not disintegrate. It landed, crashed eighty kellrans south of us. Do not leave the safety of the complex, please. There is a fireball made up of dust and pieces of metal growing. The dust is moving outwards, very fast, faster than the fire. The debris comes, very fast, it will be here, now!”
He covered his eyes and everyone kept their bodies as flat as they could. Artem whipped his scarf from his neck and wrapped it round his face covering his nose, mouth and ears and told Larya to bespeak everylind and tell them to order their vadelns to do the same. More he could not do. He hoped young Mikey had the sense to copy the adults and that the Orumcek were okay. He reasoned, as the dust rushed up the tunnel and into the complex that they were probably in the safest place of all. Their quilt bags were thick and sturdy. They were sitting in their usual place in a corner. The wind carrying the dust would batter at them but that should be all.
Thalia was lying on top of Josei’s head trying to protect him from the swirling motes and fragments. Artem spied others doing the same. His Larya slammed her head underneath his chest and lower torso; he rather thought her head was actually inside his tunic. He remembered that he had forgotten to button it.
The wind died down abruptly and the dust began to settle, the heavier pieces landing with mindless maliciousness, irrespective of who or what they hit. Some of them hurt but all Artem could think of was that rescue had come at last. They had survived.
The air within began to clear and breathing became easier.
Artem caught Thalia’s eye and winked.
She winked back just as everyone started to cheer.
Belu looked over them all benevolently and turning to his communications device, contacted Susa Raknu of the Aikko. It was time to go home.
* * * * *
As the survivors waited for the Aikko to land, Artem often found himself in the company of Paula, Katie and Thalia. He liked what he knew of Paula and was happy to spend time in her company.
“It appears that we’re fated to become allies fighting against the Community and I don’t mean me and Slei but the rebels of Dragon Wulf,” said Paula, sitting dreamingly looking into the campfire. There was no danger from the Community now and the campfires had been lit as soon as the ‘all clear’ had been given.
“The Vada defends those who need defended, it doesn’t take a war into another’s home,” he told her.
“But we defend on behalf of those who need us too. Against the Community. You won’t help us?”
“You’re Vada now,” he reminded her. “I didn’t say we wouldn’t help but there’s a fine line to be drawn between what some might call our rival philosophies. When is an attack also a defence? I read about that sometime, somewhere, a long time ago.”
“Philosophy? You?” Thalia dug him playfully in the ribs.
He looked at her mildly. “I wasn’t always in the Vada.”
“What were you?” she demanded.
“Like you, I attended the University at Stewarton. It was before your time, naturally enough. I know you were studying there when Josei found you. Wasn’t mathematics in my case …”
Paula’s eyes widened when she heard Thalia had majored in maths. She hadn’t realised that the ‘university’ the Takkians talked about was an advanced learning institution. Perhaps they taught botany there. She refrained from interrupting although she was longing to ask.
“… but philosophy,” continued Artem. “I was in my second year when Larya arrived. I never completed the year, never mind the degree.”
“I never knew,” said Thalia.
He tapped her on the nose roguishly with the tip of his finger.
“All in good time,” he promised.
Paula and Katie laughed. Thalia looked so indignant and Artem so incredibly mischievous.
“I remember for instance,” Artem went on, “reading that ‘invincibility lies in the defence’.”
“But ‘the possibility of victory is in the attack’,” countered Paula. She explained that a course, a semester long, in philosophy was a compulsory segment of all advanced learning courses on her home planet. “The philosopher you are quoting was called Sun Tzu and he lived over thirty-five centuries ago.”
“Clever girl,” said Artem approvingly. “What about ‘the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting’? Also by Sun Tzu I believe. He was one of the ancient philosophers we studied.”
“But Karl von Clausewitz says that ‘the best form of defence is attack’ and ‘blood is the price of victory’.”
“A heavy price,” Artem said, thinking about Ail, Iya and the others.
“Perhaps you can find a compromise,” suggested Thalia with a grin shared by Katie. Both women were thoroughly enjoying the debate. I should be keeping score.
“Sun Tzu said that ‘all war is deception’,” said Artem after a moment’s thought.
“And von Clausewitz says that ‘there is only one decisive victory; the last’. There’s also the one ‘war is a continuation of politics by other means’, also by von Clausewitz.”
One point each, thought Thalia.
“Unfair, unfair,” declared Artem. “I’m not familiar with this von Clausewitz. Actually, I??
?ve never heard of him, but then, we were told that many texts had not made the transition from Earth.”
All’s fair in love and war, Thalia thought. Another point to Paula, or perhaps it should be two.
“Maybe if ‘we pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance’? We talk to the Community, stall them and all the time we’re stalling them we are preparing,” Artem laughed, half serious, half in jest but as he said the words he had a gut feeling that this was exactly what would happen. His gut was seldom wrong.
“Naturally, they’ll guess what we’re doing,” Thalia contributed.
“But they won’t be sure,” Artem finished for her.
“So,” said Paula, her eyes twinkling with merriment. “The Vada and the Diaglon might end up fighting with the rebellion after all, just not precisely yet.”
“It does sort of feel right in some strange way,” said Katie.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Paula.
Artem groaned.
“Lai save me from bloodthirsty women,” he cried out in mock anguish, looking up at the stars.
* * * * *
Chapter 10
Return
“Their space ships are very fast,” observed Raknu with a speculative glint in his eye as he observed Belu settling down to record his report.
“They call them star ships. You want Engineer Marcel to explain how?”
“He will need to. If we are going to defend ourselves against this Community we must learn everything about what he can tell us. Our space ships are so slow compared to theirs which puts us at a great disadvantage.”
“Like sitting ducks, yes.”
“I do not know what ducks are but they are perhaps slow, ponderous creatures that cannot move fast?”
“Not precisely accurate but it’ll do. Marcel told me about them. He said it is a phrase that is used in such situations. I’ll send Marcel along to speak to Dru.”
Belu escorted Marcel to the Aikko’s engine room, the place Mikey thought the most exciting and interesting (after the bridge which he was only permitted to enter on rare occasions) of them all.
Dru was standing beside an immense console, filled with buttons, dials and screens. As he watched Dru’s hands move Marcel reflected that despite their size and deceptive clumsiness, his fingers were remarkably dexterous and quick.