“First Councillor,” Griffin said finally, not looking at them. “On Kashi, before the change in your sun, you had oceans like those on our home world.”
“Yes. And we had primitive vessels similar to your model.”
The General fingered the ship’s tiny steering wheel. “My people’s planet is called Earth. And in my home on Earth I used to keep many models such as this one, of old sailing vessels. I used to build them; it was a hobby of mine. Even as I rose through our service and began to command ships of extraordinary power, I retained a fascination for such craft. Slow and fragile, at the mercy of the elements, they demanded a great deal from a commander. But aboard a ship like we’re in now, nothing is left to chance. Everything is calculated and computed, and is perfect. Occasionally, I think I would envy those old captains, their strength in the face of unknown dangers.” He stopped, then added, reluctantly, “But I don’t anymore.”
They waited for the General to continue. He did not, lost in some personal reverie.
Rak had to ask, “Something happened to change your mind?”
Griffin plucked a small wooden chip from inside the model and returned to the desk, taking his seat. He loosened his collar and leaned back, glancing to the wall where his family portrait hung, a large oil of himself and his wife – a short, elegant blonde-haired lady – and three smiling teenage children.
“Yes,” Griffin said, his voice less gruff. “Several years ago I took a sailing expedition from a group of islands we call the Philippines to a continent named Australia. My hobby had taken on a serious note and I had had constructed a forty-foot wind-driven ship that I had the bad sense to believe I could steer across a thousand miles of ocean. I practiced with the ship and its sails on a number of short excursions, then set off on the big adventure without a communicator or mechanical propeller of any type. I had my son with me.”
Eric remembered the incident. It had been in the news, a famous tragedy. He did not understand Griffin’s purpose in narrating it to the leader of a people he was essentially at war with.
“On Earth,” Griffin continued, “we have a reliable weather forecast network. I would like to say that it failed on this occasion and that is why my expedition turned into a disaster. But I knew of the impending storm before I left the Philippines. We were underway three days when it hit. By the standards of earlier mariners, it was not particularly fierce. But I was inexperienced. The ship would not respond at the push of a button as would a Patrol cruiser. We took on a great deal of water. Mark was bailing it out. A wave came. He was washed overboard. It was a small miracle I survived. We never found his body.”
Griffin sat up straight, resting a hand on the desk, the chip he had taken from the model resting beneath his stubby fingers. “Suffice it to say, I lost my enthusiasm for primitive ships. Now I never give Nature a chance, on Earth or in space. I’m sure you can understand that, First Councillor.”
“You were right, I did know you before you walked in. I have watched you from afar for many years. Though it was obvious to us, it wasn’t clear to your scientists till near the end that your sun would nova.” A note of admiration entered his voice. “But you pressed for your fleet to leave when it did, even though a delay would have allowed for the construction of more ships and room for more people. You didn’t trust your sun and you were right not to.”
Eric remembered Vani’s reference in the garden to Rak, how he, too, had left family behind. Eric realized that Griffin knew of the First Councillor’s sacrifice. Yet he had no idea what the General was driving at. Rak was quicker.
“You see my fleet as being at the merry of the elements, like your toiling boat?”
“Yes. Your fleet is slow and vulnerable. But it is also big and beautiful. I have patrolled this corner of The Tachyon Web for twenty years. I watched as you built your ships, and put everything you had into them. I admired you. It was a mighty labor.”
Rak nodded. “It still is.”
Griffin opened a drawer in his desk and removed a black, cube-shaped device, about a foot in diameter with a glass viewplate on one side and a slit at the top. “Do you recognize this?” he asked Rak.
“It looks similar to our instructors.”
“It is a working replica of one of your instructors. We are able to directly scan your computers' data banks. That is how I obtained the specifics of its design. I had a technician on Earth, not in the service of The Patrol, put it together.”
“Why?” Eric asked, still waiting for the light to dawn.
“To see how well this could be read by an instructor.” Griffin held up the chip. It was not made of wood, but of silicon. It was an old-fashioned computer chip.
“What the hell?” Eric muttered.
Griffin dropped the chip in the top slit of the instructor and pushed a side switch. The viewplate glowed. He handed it to Rak. The First Councillor studied it for a moment.
“This is a translation of your language into ours?”
“The dictionary is a necessary preface. Fast forward the material and have this young man look at it.”
Rak did as requested. Eric peered into the viewplate. Technical schematics and lengthy explanatory pages flowed by: Dr Pernel's gravity flux theories; Dr Preeze’s papers on hyper link; Dr Hial's notes on interspacial navigation...Eric lowered the instructor, almost dropping it on the floor. Griffin reached across the desk and took it from him, removing the chip.
“What is it?” Rak asked, even though he seemed to know.
“Instructions on how to build the graviton and hyper drives,” Eric heard himself say.
“Detailed instructions,” Griffin corrected. “As I watched you through the years, I used to think, if I had the chance, what would I tell you?” He tapped the chip. “This has everything.” He handed it to Rak. The First Councillor slipped it in a pocket beneath the folds of his gown. He was not surprised, but still deeply touched.
“Thank you.”
“But why did you wait till now to give him this information?” Eric asked. He could not assimilate what had just happened. That General Griffin was a blood-thirsty maniac was deeply entrained in his psyche. There had to be a catch. “Why did you wait till after Kashi was destroyed?”
“I had my orders. I have never disobeyed an order.” He stopped. “I see that you are not satisfied with that answer. Neither was I. But I understood my superiors’ reasoning. They are not the heartless savages you imagine, Tirel. They are just…cautious people. They wanted to wait and see.” Griffin closed his eyes briefly, showing the first real signs of emotion, glimpses of a disturbing realization. “Then the sun exploded, and I saw more than I wanted to. Still...I continued to wait.”
“For what?” Eric asked.
“Maybe for you, Tirel, some excuse.”
“But that whole show about destroying the flagship?”
“A final test,” Rak said.
Griffin nodded. “I still had my doubts. But your resolve, First Councillor…that erased them. Return Excalibur to us, then build your star drives in secret. Outfit every ship in your fleet. And when the day comes when your people suddenly jump out of our observable reach, I will feel somewhat forgiven for having waited, and for having needed an excuse.”
Rak’s quick insight hit again. “But on that day, your superiors will know what went on in this room?”
Griffin shrugged. “So they will. So what?”
“You’ll be up for high treason,” Eric said, impressed.
“That won’t be as bad as being caught in a storm.” Griffin did not need to glance at the picture of his ton. Rak and Eric understood.
The meeting was over. They stood and shook hands. Eric felt like dancing with joy and would have if he hadn’t been so limp with relief. And if not for one other small detail...
“What’s going to happen to me?” he asked.
The General was still a hard man. “You know too much, Tirel. If word leaked out of what went on here, before the Kaulikans could build their drives, I co
uld not guarantee what action The Patrol would take.”
“I won’t tell anybody. None of my friends will either.”
“None of your friends will know what’s happened. First Councillor, have I your word that Excalibur will be placed outside in space before Tirel and you can return to the flagship?”
“Yes.”
Eric was aghast. “Are you saying I can’t go home?”
“You can’t,” Griffin said.
Rak touched his arm. “We will take care of you, son. We owe you so much.”
He felt profoundly sad, ready to cry and had to struggle to keep back the tears. No more clowning with Strem and Sammy. No more shark hunts off the coast of Baja. No more mountain climbing…“But my parents,” he stuttered. “You can’t just tell them I died.”
“I will meet with them personally,” Griffin promised. “They will be told you’re on a special assignment for The Patrol.”
“But when I don’t come home…”
“They will know that you are safe. I will see to it.”
Eric sniffed, then tried to hide it by chuckling. “But I don’t even speak Kaulikan.”
“You may keep the translator in the shuttle.”
Rak squeezed his arm. “We were a happy people once, and will be again soon. I believe you will find happiness with us.”
“I was never really that happy on Earth,’ he admitted. He looked Griffin in the eye. “All right. I’ll go. But what about my friends?”
“They'll think the First Councillor surrendered Excalibur.”
“Will they be punished?”
Griffin shook his head. “All of you youngsters helped me to make this difficult decision. I have influence, for now. They will be fine.”
“When the Kaulikans make their first hyper jumps, will The Tachyon Web come down?”
Griffin raised a silver eyebrow. “You are clever, Tirel. It's a shame the academy rejected you.”
“Why did they reject me?”
“You sent in your application late.”
“Is that the only reason?”
“Yes.” He added, “The web will probably come down, in time.”
“Would it be possible to say goodbye to my friends?”
“No.”
“How about just over a communication beam?”
“I can’t chance what you might tell them.”
Rak let go of Eric’s arm. “General, may I speak to my fellow Councillors to tell them to prepare to release Excalibur?”
“Of course.” Griffin adjusted a dial next to the empty globe. “That is the same channel we spoke on earlier?”
“Yes.”
Griffin pointed Rak toward the microphone. “Go ahead, First Councillor.”
Rak leaned over the desk and told his people that the confrontation was over, giving the impression that the Kaulikans had backed down. As he finished speaking, Eric moved to his side and said rather loudly, “Vani, everything is four-A-okay.”
Griffin did not react to the comment. Rak completed his message to his unhappy Councillors and then the General walked them to the door.
“A last piece of advice,” Griffin said. “Our Union is vast but you have seen how we are a claustrophobic race. There are worlds everywhere, even in other galaxies. Find one far away.”
Rak nodded. “Then we will not meet again?”
“I very much doubt it.”
So Griffin really wasn’t such a bad guy, after all, Eric thought. Eric couldn’t resist. He slapped the General on the back and laughed. “Hell, you haven’t seen the last of me.”
EPILOGUE
Once they were back aboard the flagship, Rak excused himself. He had to speak to his fellow Councillors. Eric could well understand his haste. Eric would have enjoyed seeing their faces when they learned the truth. But Rak did not invite him to tag along and it appeared his part in these large matters was over. He was disappointed. In spite of the dozen nervous breakdowns he’d suffered during the last couple of days, he had enjoyed playing the big cheese.
A Kaulikan guard was waiting in the docking bay to escort him to his new quarters. Translator in hand, Eric asked to be taken to an observational window instead. He had not seen Excalibur on his return trip in the shuttle and it was clearly no longer in the flagship bay. As the old freighter had been so quickly removed into space, Vani might not have had a chance to reach Strem. The possibility was disquieting.
Before leaving for The Patrol battle cruiser, Eric had given Vani four slips of paper, each containing a different message. He had anticipated that after everything was said and done, Griffin would try to keep him from his friends. The messages relayed four separate conclusions to the whole scenario: The Kaulikans got cheated and his new forwarding address was Mercury; the Kaulikans got cheated and now he was one of them; the Kaulikans got what they deserved and he was still heading for Mercury; the Kaulikans got what they deserved and he hoped Vani didn’t get tired of him. He had placed the brightest possibility last because immediately after the vaporization of the factory, it had seemed the least likely. He had taught Vani the English words: one two, three, four. When he had said four-A-okay in the General’s quarters, she had known to deliver the last message to Strem immediately. The fourth message had also contained a note that Strem could respond to.
Eric’s escort led him to a small dimly lit room whose one wall, from floor to ceiling, was a clear window looking out into space. Primitive telescopes that employed curved lenses to gather and magnify light were available for use. After assuring him that he would be waiting nearby, the guard left the room.
For the first time in a long time, Eric found himself alone. Off to the far left of the window was the nova, still beautiful with its many hued halos, yet somehow less impressive to him. It was not logical, but he couldn’t help feeling that he had defeated the volatile star. He remembered Rak’s comment in the shuttle. The First Councillor had imagined that the sun had grown tired with its children’s wicked ways, like an impatient parent. Well, Eric had never taken parental punishment easily and it gave him a deep satisfaction to have pulled a fast one on this Big Daddy. Even with their huge fleet, the Kaulikan race had stood only a slim chance of life. Now their survival was practically certain.
As to his own future...he had to know about those messages.
Turning toward darker regions Eric noted a faint cluster of silver slithers floating between the stars. He reached for a telescope and adjusted the focus, peering in the eyepiece. The Patrol Fleet had yet to activate their hyper drives. The reason was clear to the eye. A mercuric dot was leaving Griffin’s command vessel for a dull gray stubby cylinder that floated nearby; no doubt a ferry being sent over to remove Excalibur’s crew. The General apparently did not trust his friends at the freighter’s helm.
“So long, guys,” he said, feeling a stab of loneliness. “We had a hell of a vacation.”
A warm hand touched the side of his face. “Eric.”
It was Vani, wearing an uncertain smile. They moved away from the window and sat on a nearby couch, the translator resting between them. Hopefully, the thing would keep working until he could learn the language.
“I spoke to Rak in the Council Chamber,” Vani said, her eyes shining. “He said that you have given us a new life.”
“Nice of him to give me all the credit.”
She leaned forward, clasped his hands. “When can we be at Lira?”
“With the instructions you received, your people could probably outfit the flagship with the necessary drives in a few months. Of course, it will take longer to prepare every ship in the fleet, but once your engineers and technicians get the hang of the technology, it won’t be long. You probably won’t even end up at Lira. Somewhere else might be better, far away. Distance won’t matter anymore.”
Vani was happy, but her uncertainty remained. “You say ‘you’ not ‘we’. Are you not coming with us?”
Eric took his hands back, folding them together on his lap, staring at the floor. H
e was afraid to ask about the notes. “I have no choice.”
His answer distressed her. “But is this not a choice you would make?”
He felt ashamed of his self-centeredness. He turned to her. “Yes, it is. I love your people. I love…that I’ve been given the opportunity to stay here with you. But...I don’t know.”
“What?”
He laughed, once, embarrassed. “Vani, we met under unusual circumstances. Strem and I were stumbling around, lost. We intended to use you. We lied to you. Why, you didn’t even know that I was an alien.” Boy that sounded weird. “What I’m trying to say is that I like you, but I’m not one of you. I don’t even have white hair.”
“You have beautiful hair.”
“My eyes are funny.”
“You have beautiful eyes.”
“Vani…”
“Eric.” She took his hands again. “I have watched you. Everything you did to help us you did because you thought we were a people as good as your people.”
“Right.”
“Then why do you not think you are as good as we?”
She had a point there. “I guess I don’t want you to feel you have to stay my friend now that the excitement is over.” He added hastily, “If you don’t want to, that is.”
She laughed. “You are my new job! When I spoke to Rak in the Council Chamber, he said it was my responsibility to help you adjust to our society.” She patted his arm. “I would rather take care of you than take care of a fruit tree.”
He decided he would be a fool to argue with her further. “Vani,” he said reluctantly, “I don’t suppose you got a chance to give the notes to Strem?”
She laughed again, mimicking his code words in English, “Four-A-okay?”
“You got to him?”
She nodded, pulling a paper from her pants pocket. “Yes. And he returned the note to me after writing on the back.”