Méridien (The Silver Ships Book 3) (21 page)
Read Méridien (The Silver Ships Book 3) Online
Authors: S. H. Jucha
Tags: #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Science Fiction, #Alien Invasion, #First Contact, #Space Opera
“It appears, Admiral, we may have stumped them on this one,” Mickey said.
He had barely finished speaking when the display of young to adult appeared on the silver ship’s hull and the audio picked up a double-tone whistle.
“Admiral,” Mickey said sadly, “their race has been imprisoned for somewhere around 480 years.”
“Yes, Mickey, and I think it’s high time they were freed!” Alex said.
Now the escape plan begins
, Alex thought.
After the Swei Swee watched the vid, the response was the now familiar odd sound followed by a single warbling tone, which translated as “Nua’ll negative.”
“So the Swei Swee can communicate between fighters without the Nua’ll hearing them. How foolish of the jailers,” Alex murmured.
The response was a series of whistles and tweets, one of which was unfamiliar to Alex. Before Alex could question the SADEs, a new, heretofore unseen icon appeared on the rear of the silver ship, and the unfamiliar tone was repeated.
Mutter sent.
While the team considered Alex’s words, a second image appeared on the fighter’s hull. An odd, tube-shaped ship, similar to an ancient projectile, with concentric rings down its length appeared. It was positioned for a side view. Four silver ships, placed bow to stern, stretched underneath the ringed-ship to indicate its length.
The response was “Ringed dark traveler positive.” It was followed by an icon of the prison ship with four ringed-ship icons overlaying its image. Mutter translated the long series of audio tones that accompanied the image.
Let’s see what type of allies you would make
, Alex thought.
The response was loud and strong, almost vehement. The SADEs and Alex could translate these simple sounds by now. It was “Negative, hunter world.”
Despite the alien nature of the communications, there was no mistaking anguish in the desperate response of “Negative, Nua’ll hunter world.”
This time there was no immediate response, only silence. Then first one individual and then another emitted odd, warbling tones until all joined into what could only be called wailing. The blended notes had a way of mesmerizing yet, at the same time, subtly fraying the nerves of the humans listening. A loud whistle cut across the hive’s lament, and the chorus ceased.
The engineering team heard the now recognizable whistles and tones of the First, but the message was too complex for easy translation. When the message ended, absolute silence fell—no background conversation, no chorus, no sound whatsoever.
Several moments of silence came from Mutter. Alex considered the ramifications of asking an AI as old as Mutter to guess.
Probably an unfair request
, Alex thought.
On the fighter’s rear, the outline of the Nua’ll ship appeared and a bright yellow-green dot began blinking on and off in the center of the dot.
Julien began enlarging the image on the engineering vid screen while the team watched. Soon the bright blinking dot filled the screen. It wasn’t a single dot. It was composed of a mass of individual dots. Julien kept enlarging the image until a single dot revealed a circle encompassing the dim outline of a Swei Swee.
Alex took a moment to consider his next line of communication then ordered,
When the team received no response, Julien sent the message again. Everyone waited in silence for a reply. Of interest to every human of the flotilla was that no discussion took place among the Swei Swee. The decision appeared to remain with the First.
Finally, the First’s whistled response came through clearly. Mutter translated it as “Swei Swee search the endless waters; Nua’ll travel the endless waters.”
The team heard the hive chorus a single tone, repeated over and over, but with endless twists and turns on the basic note. In their implants, they heard Mutter repeat, <“Affirmative, affirmative, affirmative.”>
The First’s whistle ended the chant and his following notes were translated as “Star Hunter First.”
Cordelia took the initiative to project an image of Alex in his Admiral’s uniform on the rear of the fighter. It effectively ended the celebratory chorus.
“Admiral,” Claude said, “if you will, please regard the resonance imager.”
Alex walked over to the imager’s output screen, which showed the Swei Swee hive bobbing up and down in unison. The scene gave Alex an eerie feeling.
Since Alex and the SADEs couldn’t think of a way to communicate to the Swei Swee that they needed time to think, it fell to Cordelia and Mutter to keep them entertained while Alex met with his officers. Cordelia had already designed the next 1,571 icons and vids she would employ, so she made use of the time to add to the Swei Swee language base.
Julien sought to divest himself of overwhelming duties. He relayed the Engineering Suite’s output to Cordelia, passing her the responsibility to filter the final output to the flotilla, but he kept for himself the creation of the vid destined for New Terra every three hours. It freed his processing power to manage the demands of the Admiral’s meeting with the flotilla’s officers, which entailed mirroring the
Rêveur
’s holo-vid to the
Money Maker
and the
Freedom
.
As one of the earliest SADEs, Mutter was hard pressed to juggle her responsibilities which were managing the holo-vid display for the Captain and crew, driving the analysis of the Swei Swee’s responses, and maintaining the
Money Maker
’s operations. That she was accomplishing her tasks, even if barely, pleased her to no end.
Alex, Andrea, and Edouard gathered around the
Rêveur
’s bridge holo-vid. Lazlo, Ahmed, Tatia and Sheila were gazing at the mirrored-image on the
Money Maker
’s bridge. Captain Cordova and Tomas were spectators on the bridge of the
Freedom
. They didn’t expect to participate, but Alex wanted them to know his plans and under what conditions they should employ their emergency orders. Julien linked all of their implants in a conference comm.
Alex had laid out his idea and Andrea responded with,
Sheila blanched at the thought of the loss of the entire squadron—pilots and Daggers—which would include her. She knew she would not abandon her people in the final fight. Lazlo and Ahmed glanced at her, guilt written on their faces at the thought of the pilots’ sacrifices if they were ordered into straight-up fights.
Alex let them digest the contrasting concepts for a moment. Quiet reigned while everyone considered the Admiral’s plan, the risks, and the conversations with the Swei Swee.
Captain Menlo said. He had yet to voice an opinion one way or the other.
Rêveur
and the
Money Maker
below the ecliptic and moved them under the system short of Libre.
stays with the
Rêveur
to protect your ship and both of you stay below the ecliptic. If the silver ships betray us, the
Money Maker
will have time to move far below the ecliptic.>