Chameleon Ch 40

Jackson found Rianya where he expected, on a bench near the shoreline, holding a cup of the Pegasi afreesia tea. Her sable hair cascaded down her back, falling over the back of the bench like a pelt. Wisps waved in the breeze, transporting him to the day they met, when she brought life to his world of disaster.

He didn’t speak but she turned as he approached. He leaned down to kiss her cheek, receiving a sleepy smile in return. A blonde and a brunette sprang around the bench to the shore side, dodging other people to beat each other to the shore. Tom sat down close to Rianya.

“Did you have a nice morning?”

“Yes, I did. I’ve just been drifting here with my tea and the sun and the sea and the breezes. You’re early.”

“I ran into Jake, the young man with the radar dish. We went to his home and talked, and he invited us for dinner for the last night of the festival, and before we leave.”

“That was nice of him.”

“It’s odd,” Tom said, testing the waters with a single toe. “But I know him. His father was killed in the bombing. He recognized me, actually. He’s the only Cetian I know.”

“It’s nice to catch up with old friends.” Rianya leaned back and stretched her shoulders. “I’m ready for this to be over with. I don’t think I can wait another week,” she said, placing her hands on her sizable middle. “Oh! Feel that!” she said, taking Tom’s hand and pushing it against her side.

He’d done it before, but that didn’t diminish his awe at the foot shaped structure, imprisoned in Rianya’s body, protruding against his palm. Of all the profound phenomena he’d seen in his lifetime, from supernova to nebula, this was the paramount miracle. A twinge of terror ran up his spine, but he shook it away promptly.

“It must be getting cramped in there; she’s trying to get out.”

“She’s been doing that all morning.”

“You think you can watch them long enough for me to run over to Terra Ceti? I still have a few errands to wrap up.”

“You can’t mean that,” Rianya said. A solemn, near predatory gaze played on her face. Tom nodded with a sheepish smile and called the girls up from the beach.

“I might be awhile.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Knowing none of his crew would see them, he kissed her temporarily-generous waistline; she ruffled his hair. A peaceful wave washed over him, boosting his energy almost as much as his habitual morning coffee.

“Girls, I think there’s a place for you to play at the Terra Ceti compound. Come on.”

Rianya watched the three fade as they walked out of sight around the center of the town. Turning back to the sea, the sounds of laughing people and kids shouting waned. How had she gotten here, sitting on an alien planet, near a bizarre and colossal power place that made, of all things, electricity. She didn’t even know electricity existed a few years back.

Her husband was a good man, and had given her two babies, almost, but he had a wanderlust that reared distant yearnings for the unobtainable, things in the sky that could only be seen, never touched. He could be dreadfully oblivious, and infinitely compassionate, both dictating his actions on the bridge of his ship.

Rianya ached for permanence, for serenity, an escape from technology that surrounded her every moment, even on this planet where the people were very much like her own. On the surface, the town hummed along, unflustered by the otherworldly, near instantaneous changes to their civilization. How had it been so easy for them to abandon their history and leap forward?

Maybe more than her family, even, she missed her animals. Having grown up with them, every day of her life, having cared for them, collected them, needing to be needed by them, she still had a small empty place that wanted those silent creatures in her life.

“Uko peke yako?” said a person who appeared human, like Dr. Clarke, with the familiar backward cadence in speech. “I think I know you,” the fellow said. “I’m Mosi, Rafiki, a friend. I have never seen someone like you here.”

“Sit,” she invited. He eagerly settled down a half a meter from her.

“You must be Captain Jack’s wife, the lovely Rianya.”

“Yes, I am.”

“He wanted to introduce us several days ago, and came by with the two children to do something in the Terra Ceti complex. He told me you were here. He was right. You’re the prettiest wife I’ve ever met.” He handed her a cloth handkerchief with a small embroidered circle in one corner, a blue and white circle that looked like a planet. “A gift.”

“Thank you,” she said. He was a bit overwhelming, but friendly enough.

“I like to give all the lady visitors something to remember their trip to Terra Ceti. Mr. Captain said you are not up for walking long distances. I can see why, now,” the chatterbox continued. “You make Captain Jack a father soon?” The man leaned back, making himself comfortable on the bench.

“Indeed.”

“I see why a starship captain would choose you over a ship.” The man winked. “Can I get you anything? Think of me as a Pegasi woman.” What he meant by that specifically wasn’t clear, but since he’d asked…

“Another cup of this tea would be great.”

“That afressia tea? You shouldn’t drink that yet.” Rianya frowned.

“Why not?”

“That for Pegasi women.” Rianya shook her head. “Pegasi women tea, makes the insides get busy.”

“What are you talking about, Mosi, is it?”

“It makes the baby come, or for Pegasi, before it gets near so big. You don’t drink that unless you want to make the baby come.”

“No!” Rianya dropped the wooden cup like it was on fire. “Pegasi women. I’m not Pegasi woman.”

“Maybe not work on you, but Pegasi women can’t have babies or they lose their jobs, their homes, the mans not want them.”

“Oh…” Rianya’s mouth dropped. The tea induced womb contractions when the servile ladies wanted to avoid pregnancy.

“You must not have known. Where’d you get it?”

“Tom… Captain Jackson brought me some the other day. It’s so good, I got more. Why would they sell it to me when it’s obvious I want to have this baby?”

“Because they guess you want to have the baby! I don’t mean to sound wrong, here, but Pegasi women as big as you are in trouble. They must think you past the time.”

“I should think so,” she muttered. “Would you go find my family? They are at the Terra Ceti, and tell them to come get me? We need to get back to the ship.”

“I will do that. But not to worry, one or two cups probably won’t hurt. They drink lots, all the time. We get big containers arrive on their ships every month or so. It’s like candy.”

“Mr. Mosi, please?”

“Stay here. I’ll go find him. It has been a great pleasure to meet you.” He jogged off, leaving her in a cold sweat. No wonder they sold some to Tom. He’d be bringing it to his Pegasi mistress. And to her, because she wanted to bring on labor. This was not a good thing! She placed the kerchief over her face to hide her negligence. Luckily, they’d be up to the Maria Mitchell in an hour, Adams would tell her everything was all right, and then she could relax.

þ

Jackson pressed his temples together before Mosi had even finished replaying the entire story to him.

“Is she okay?”

“Yes, yes she was okay when I left. Disturbed about the tea, and worried. Well, that’s not okay, but she was otherwise okay.”

“Thank you, Rafiki.” Jackson looked up at the man sitting across the table from him as Mosi left the room. “I have to go. I’ll send you the incident reports as soon as I can.”

“This is going to be more than a simple clause in a contract.” The Earth Compound Administrator, Leonid Varova, sighed as Jackson stood up, holding out his hand. “I’m terribly sorry for what happened. I think someone’s been asleep at the helm.” Jackson couldn’t help but think it might be Leonid who’d been sleeping.

“Jake, uh, Jaakub, I don’t think he has another name, he’ll have all the telemetry for you out at that radar shed. Watch out, though. His snacks include bugs.”

“They all eat bugs around here,” Leonid laughed. “Long sticks or short balls?”

“Long sticks.” Jackson shuddered at the memory.

“They’re not half bad,” Leonid commented, grasping Jackson’s hand. It was warm, and moist, but not a strong, assured clasp. The captain wasn’t impressed.

“I’ll gather my kids and be on my way then. Can I use your com first?” Leonid walked Jackson to a surprisingly modern telecom room with modern, even advanced, solid state transmitting and receiving units. A fleeting lesson in on, transmit, receive, and off, and Jackson had the room to himself.

A lot of crafts were orbiting Tau Ceti D. The satellite images picked up at least fifty, showing their distances and speeds in crisp, blue numbers. He didn’t want to see the telescopes, solar arrays, and defunct space junk. He wanted Maria Mitchell. He switched to look for alien electromagnetic emissions. That one was alien, but ID’d as Kiian. That was it.

He toggled the view a couple of times trying to call up Maria Mitchell’s location. The only thing resembling a ship was the Kiian cargo carrier, a long, knobby craft that could dispatch units while in orbit and have them descend to specified coordinates. The empty containers would be robotically returned after a pre-programmed number of mothership orbits. Good for a cargo ship, but not for a science ship.

“Leo! How do I locate my ship?”

“What? Say again.”

“How do I locate my ship?” Jackson shouted. The administrator returned and toggled the same switch for tracking emissions. The blue display was replaced with the red.

“There.”

“No, that’s a Kiian cargo carrier. Where’s Maria Mitchell?”

Leo looked closer, then scratched absently at his head. He toggled again, then opened a com channel.

“Maria Mitchell, this is Terra Ceti, come in.” The man tapped dozens of keys, changing the frequency at least that many times, calling on each, getting the same vacant reply.

“Leo?”

“Ceti Moon Orion One, come in. This is Terra Ceti.”

“Orion One. Go ahead.”

“Is Maria Mitchell out there with you?”

“Who?”

“No, Science Ship Maria Mitchell, from Earth.”

“Never even heard of her.”

“Check your sweep.” Jackson started to feel nauseous. His stomach crushed inside his body as the panic took over and his adrenaline picked up. He stood, the chair rolling out abruptly from under him, bumping into the wall. This was not normal.

“Sorry, Terra Ceti, we have nothing here but a few satellites, no passengers.”

“Thank you,” Leo mumbled. “She must have left orbit.”

“Like hell she left orbit! Find my ship!” Jackson bellowed. “Who gave permission to leave orbit? Geezes, Neptune! Chimpanzees could run this place better than you!”

“Calm down, Captain, I’m sure there’s just a glitch in our live data. Let me check the records.”

“Hurry up, man!”

The fellow sat at the console, his hands shaking, and pulled up the telemetry of all activity from the last 25 hours.

“There she is,” Leonid said assuredly. "Here, the blip just blipped out, that’s all…” his voice trailed off. The data scrolled and a visible record of the blip leaving the planet came up, not simply blinking out.

“Where’s my ship!” Jackson tried to call her blind. “Maria Mitchell, this is Jackson. Come in!” All that returned was a vacuum. “Maria Mitchell, come in!” Jackson squeezed his eyes shut against the lights of technology, mocking him with its superior eyes and ears. He slammed his fists over his ears.

“Where is she? Did she crash? Is there a wreckage?”

“None reported, Captain.”

“How do you know that? You don’t know anything here!” He shook with panic from his feet to his head. “I’m having a heart attack!” he yelled to no one, and the crushing weight on his heart was as real as real could get. He kicked a wastebasket across the room. And stood still, trying to get some oxygen.

“We’ll find her, Captain, don’t worry!” Leonid squeaked, finding his wits, and calling up to the Kiian ship. Jackson had stopped listening to Leonid, something about the ship seeing Maria Mitchell, or sending a shuttle to find her, or he didn’t even care anymore.

“When I find who’s responsible I will have their head, and their blood!”