Evgeny wondered if he should have
remained on the shuttle deck. The climb
back up to the bridge and then down again had served little purpose. His presence on the bridge had been largely
supervisory, a role he could have managed by remote monitoring and ‘comm. He could have then remained to await the
Ningyo shuttle’s arrival. Soloth could
have managed the rest above-decks, and Evgeny could have avoided his first mate
a little longer.
That thought was nonsense on several
levels. First, part of the reason he was still captain was personal
presence. Nothing important could happen
on the Scape Grace without Evgeny’s
oversight. The reasons were both
practical and psychological. Practical,
because he limited crew access to just the ship systems needed for
their duties. Psychological, because he
wanted to make sure everyone knew whose ship this was and who gave the
orders. The moment he started delegating
command decisions was the moment he forfeited being captain.
Second, the Ningyo were coming in
force: at least three of them, armed. If
they – for whatever unpredictable reason – decided to try and overpower the
ship or take its captain hostage, Soloth’s presence would significantly improve
Evgeny's survival. No matter how much Evgeny
might have offended Soloth by his attempt to abandon ship, his Mauraug associate
would side with its captain over Ningyo boarders. Soloth’s augmented strength and combat
experience might not be the best counter to Ningyo ranged weaponry, but those
assets couldn’t hurt. If Evgeny really expected violence, he would have
added the Vislin, Tklth, to their complement… but bringing Ticklish, armed, was
virtually a guarantee of a violent
outcome.
Soloth, at least, had
self-control. A damned lot of
self-control, today. The imposing simian
bulk of it occupied more than half of the corridor next to Evgeny and fit the
ladder tubes between decks with little room to spare. If Soloth ever really wanted to thrash its
captain, Evgeny would be at serious disadvantage, particularly in these tight
quarters. The kind of weaponry he would
need to even out that fight would potentially wreck his own ship when
fired.
Maybe he was being stupid. It could be that Soloth suspected nothing…
now, that was stupid. They knew each other too well not to read
those kinds of cues. Maybe Soloth wasn’t
even offended. Why not, though? It would certainly sting him if Soloth bailed out on him, personally, let alone abandoning
the ship. Hypocritical, no doubt, but
still a fair analysis. If Soloth just
didn’t care if he ran, then maybe their partnership was wearing thin on one side. Hell, maybe Soloth had decided that its
easiest path to dominance over the Scape Grace
was if Evgeny left voluntarily. That
way, none of the crew would begrudge the Mauraug a bloody coup. It would just be stepping into the abdicated
captain’s chair.
Fortunately, this was all the
stewing Evgeny had time for before they were at the shuttle door and he was
keying in the entry code. Soloth stood
aside and back, tactically positioned near the emergency controls. Should the Ningyo come in firing, it could
open the outer airlock and vent them to space, trigger the fire suppression
systems, or even better, trigger the vacuum suppression systems and seal the
whole bay in plastic foam. It could do
all of that now, in fact. The shuttle deck was intentionally a dangerous position to hold. The Ningyo were trusting that the threat of
their nearby flagship was sufficient to keep their own captain and crew members
safe.
Not that total vacuum would
necessarily kill the Ningyo inside their suits.
Evgeny wouldn’t put it past them to build in safeguards. They already lived in spacesuits to endure any environment
favored by ‘low-gravity’, ‘low-pressure’ organisms. A little extra reinforcement for even lower
pressure, a little internal atmosphere recycling and pressurized gas for
breathing, plus a built-in heating element, and the tinned jellyfish could probably
go extra-vehicular for several minutes.
For that matter, they might be carrying portable space-fold generators and just
teleport off the Scape Grace, maybe
back to their own ship, at the first sign of trouble. That seemed unlikely, given the cost of such
tech and the hazard involved with using it… but wouldn’t it just be like the
Ningyo to take risks for something they considered valuable?
Evgeny could see them now. There were three, stepping down a vaguely
scoop shaped ramp extended from the side of their white, bulbous shuttle. The effect was something like a fruit with
the peel pulled down from one segment, disgorging insects from its blackened
insides. For all Evgeny knew, the design
might be practical, artistic, or intentionally perverse in
order to offend other sapient sensibilities.
He
already felt that the latter was true for the Ningyo suits themselves. Rumor held that there were Ningyo suits built
to mimic other sapient species: thick ones with tails and crests for Taratumm,
short ones with animatronic ears for Hrotata, even bizarre serpentine and
arachnoid ones to pass among species not yet accepted into the Collective. The mid-sized humanoid suits just worked well
as an average, equally similar (and thus equally disturbing) to several Collective cultures and many other species of similar
dimensions.
These
three suits were generally shining white with black joints. Each was of similar height and build. There were individual exceptions. Jolly was familiar, with its deep-set eyes,
shallow nose ridge, and missing mouth. Its limbs were carefully sculpted to look thin but not quite thin enough to be absurd.
The second Ningyo had an odd textured effect on its mask’s chin and
crown. As it got closer, Evgeny realized
what he was seeing: a sculptor’s impression of hair, including a small pointed beard. The shape of the beard suggested lips beneath,
curled in a wicked smile, but the eyes were blankly innocent. The overall effect was like looking at a
caricature of drunken confusion.
The
third Ningyo was a surprise of a different type. A quarter of its mask, the upper front, was
black. The color was seamlessly worked
into the gleaming material. Blank white
eyes stared out from beneath the black faceplate. It had a sharp, beak-like nose. Beneath that nose was a flat, wide mouth with
a suggestion of parted lips. Its grin stretched almost to the sides of its head. The last
aberration was this Ningyo’s shape: the abdomen of its suit distended slightly,
seeming to have inflated and drooped at the front. Evgeny found himself wondering if it were
trying to mimic pregnancy or if the bulge had a practical purpose, such as
concealing equipment.
They
were most definitely armed. The
‘bearded’ Ningyo carried a distortion projector, a nasty application of their
culture's technology which could create a short-lived space fold at a
controlled distance from its focusing pointer.
Pretty much anything that needed its parts all in one place would be
rendered inoperable if tagged by the projector’s field… living organisms
particularly included. Jolly had another
of the devices strapped to its back. The
bloated third Ningyo had some sort of melee weapon strapped to one hip, a
simple long black cylinder with a handle.
No doubt it ignited plasma-hot, or conducted fatal current, or created
sonic concussions, or something else destructive to matter and agonizing to a sensory
system. A more traditional pneumatic
handgun rested in a holster on the same Ningyo’s other hip. Having something non-electronic was a good
backup idea. These visitors were not
taking any chances. It was nice to be
taken seriously as a threat.
With
a few remaining reservations and a couple of new ones added, Evgeny nevertheless
finished entering the door code and allowed the Ningyo to enter the inner
shuttle deck. The three figures strode
forward and stopped within a meter of the unarmed Human. Their manner seemed non-threatening; the one
with a weapon in hand kept it pointed toward the floor.
Jolly
stepped forward, its right hand extended.
Evgeny glanced at it, then stared at the blank face of the Ningyo for
several seconds more. Eventually, Jolly
got the idea and let its hand fall. It
shrugged, comically, and gestured to either side as it spoke.
“Captain
Lerner, I presume? These are my
colleagues: Comus,” here Jolly indicated the bearded, grinning figure, “and
Punch.” Its waving hand moved toward the
rotund, black-masked Ningyo. “Comus is
our cultural relations officer, handling translation, diplomacy, and general
communications. Punch is my security
officer, handling non-verbal communications.”
Jolly craned its neck to the side to ‘look’ around Evgeny. “Your friend there looks like it would get
along famously with Punch.”
Evgeny
steeled himself to remain neutral while dealing with the deliberately absurd
Ningyo. He would neither dignify their
jests by playing along, as some Humans did, nor by showing his irritation. Ignoring all provocation seemed the best
means of disparaging it.
“I
am captain Evgeny Lerner, yes. This is
my second in command, Soloth bash’ Soloth. Welcome
to the Scape Grace. If you will follow us, I will show you to
your quarters.”
“Quarters,
captain? We carry our homes in our
shells. There is no need to set aside space
for our occupation nor to set aside time for our preoccupation. Let us go to your sterncastle and lay in
course for our voyage together."
Evgeny
was taken aback. He had not even
considered that the Ningyo might not want private quarters. Of
course they were going to be underfoot and in his face every moment of this
trip. Why had he thought they might want
a refuge from ship’s operations or a private area to see to their personal
needs? It wasn’t as if they required
water for washing, or any rations ship’s stores could provide, or perhaps even
a bed to stretch out on. As much as the
Ningyo had studied and learned to mimic Humans, the relationship did not extend
the other way, and Evgeny had little idea what facilities a Ningyo might need
for comfort.
“Well,
then. We might as well move on to the
bridge. All the navigation controls are
up there anyway,” Evgeny allowed. He
tried to sound noncommittal, as if he had no concerns where the visitors
went. He turned on his heel and started
for the exit, passing Soloth after a couple of steps.
The
Mauraug fell into step beside Evgeny once more, the pair preceding the three
Ningyo. The trio walked single-file:
Punch first, followed by Jolly, with Comus trailing behind. As they approached the exit door, Evgeny
heard steady footsteps approaching, plastic soles slapping against the metal
floor.
Turning
the corner of an adjoining corridor, the third remaining original crew member
of the Scape Grace stepped into
view. Luuboh bash’Gaulig was slower than
a fully-formed Mauraug might be, but still equaled the rushed walking speed of
any Human its own height. If Human, it
would have been considered a dwarf. For
a Mauraug, its arms and legs were stunted. The differences were obvious when both it and
Soloth were in view together, as right then.
In comparison to a normally built Mauraug, Luuboh looked thin in the legs and thick in the arms and
shorter in both, yet with a normal head and torso.
Next
to a Human, Luuboh looked only a bit barrel-chested and big-headed, perhaps
with a weightlifter’s build under a heavy fur coat. Otherwise, its appearance and coloration were
not bad by Mauraug standards, with an even division of white and black sections
and a well-proportioned face. Yet its
‘diminutive’ stature and relative weakness made it a laughingstock even among
the genetically unstable Mauraug. A bad
eye, a bad leg, even fragile bones could be repaired with sufficient
cybernetics. Thanks to technology, most deformities posed no obstacle to physical Domination. Even Soloth, born with a cleft palate and
open spinal column, had been repaired to meet and even surpass the physical
standards of its race. Luuboh, unfortunately, would have needed all four limbs replaced… not to mention a major psychiatric overhaul.
Its parents,
colonists of limited means, had not been able to afford such extensive
surgeries and allowed Luuboh to grow up ‘crippled’. Other Mauraug might have been able to overlook such
regrettable disadvantages had Luuboh's dominant parent, Gaulig, not also failed the child
another way: it let Luuboh grow up believing it would be forever inferior. Worse, its other, subordinate parent encouraged the child to
complacently accept this fate. Luuboh
never strove to find its own path to Dominion, not even to labor and save up
enough to replace its shrunken limbs with more powerful, normal-length
prostheses. Unable to counter the abuse
from its peers, it had begun to spend more and more time away from Locust
Colony. Thus it was that Luuboh, weakest
of the weak, survived the slaughter of its parents and those peers, all save
Soloth bash’Soloth.
Evgeny
and Soloth had accepted Luuboh into their survivors' rebellion partly out of
sentiment – it was one of them in spirit – and partly out of practicality. Luuboh knew best how to survive in the wilds
of Locust 4, having spent more time than any of them outside of the colony’s
enclosure. It was also willing to carry
more weight, cook better meals, and build more campsites than anyone else. Unlike any of the other survivors, Luuboh
never balked at taking on its duty and someone else’s, too. It even fought hard to steal the ‘Grace, surprising Soloth and the other
Mauraug survivors. Once they had departed
Locust 4 forever, Luuboh continued in the role of quartermaster and cook. It
resided within the intestines of the ship, cleaning and organizing and keeping
the rest of the crew fed and equipped.
Now,
it walked toward the odd procession crossing its ‘territory’ with something
looking strangely like challenge.
Luuboh halted in the center of the hallway and waited for Evgeny and
Soloth to draw near. Evgeny was
expecting a few whispered words, perhaps a question about operations that
Luuboh felt necessary to ask immediately.
Instead,
as Evgeny neared the Mauraug, Luuboh gave a flat-footed, open-handed bow in the
direction of the Ningyo delegation.
“Honored
guests, welcome to the Scape Grace,”
Luuboh intoned aloud, its bass voice all the more surprising coming from the
relatively small Mauraug. “I have
prepared your quarters. You will find
nutrient dispensers, hopefully correctly calibrated. Please, allow me to escort you. I would ask that you tell me if the
accommodations are unacceptable in any way.”
Evgeny
was drawing breath to explain its error to Luuboh when Jolly spoke first. “Thank you.
You are very kind. We accept your
generous offer and would happily accompany you to the provided quarters. Captain, if you will excuse us?”
The
first Ningyo, Comus, began to step forward.
Evgeny gave ground in confusion, falling to one side of the corridor as
Soloth took a step back toward the opposite wall. They exchanged a look between the passing
Ningyo. Soloth held a grimace of
perplexity. Evgeny was sure his own
expression showed his bafflement. Luuboh
led the group further down the same hall, toward the stern sections holding
engineering. No doubt the necessary
accommodations for Ningyo had been worked out by NuRikPo’s pair of Human
tinkerers.
As
Punch went by, Evgeny turned toward the retreating Jolly. He was only able to call out part of his
question: “Why are you…”
Jolly
anticipated the rest: “Because it would be rude
not to, after being asked so nicely!”
***************************************************************************************
The captain was left behind to steam
as Luuboh and the Ningyo delegation departed for their quarters. Soloth waited with him as well. Evgeny’s temper was rapidly approaching a point
of imbalance. He decided that he could
not manage multiple nuisances at once.
It was time to resolve at least one
of his many problems.
Facing Soloth, Evgeny sent the
question broadside: “What’s going on with you?”
The Mauraug waggled its eyebrows in an
expression Humans might mistake for humorous effect, but Evgeny recognized as
confusion and distress. “What do you
mean?” Its rumbling voice also conveyed
genuine uncertainty.
“You haven’t said a thing to me,
personally, since this whole mess started.
You’re angry. I get that. So let’s have it out. Are you expecting an apology? An explanation?”
“Captain, I’m not sure what you
think I’m angry about. I’m unhappy about
this situation, certainly. But I don’t
see what we could have done to avoid it.
It was an effective trap, if heavy-handed and wasteful. If the Ningyo are true to their word, then we
end up intact and possibly profit a little, if not in the way we had hoped.”
“You’re really playing dumb? You’re going to make me say it?”
“I still don’t know what
you’re talking about.”
“When it looked like we were going
to be attacked… when I started to walk off the bridge to ‘talk to NuRikPo’? I saw you.
You looked crushed.”
“Of course I was. The ship was in danger. Its leader had lost courage.”
“Lost courage? I was ready to take
the lifeboat and dive for deep space. If
you ran like that on me, I’d be personally offended.”
“You should not be. Disappointed, yes. But I am not Dominant here. You are.
If you choose to abandon that role, that is your choice. I would grieve for the loss of a leader and
the necessity of taking Dominance myself, particularly in a situation with few
options. Why should I be offended if you
decide that you can no longer serve as captain?
If you tried to stay behind after renouncing your authority, I would be offended. If you try to step down to be second in
command, I might kill you. But
abandoning all you have built would be fair punishment for renouncing your role
as its master. I am surprised you do not
have more understanding of Dominion, after all this time.”
“Soloth, I don’t think you Mauraug
have a single understanding of Dominion, yourselves, after ‘all this time’."
“You are correct. My philosophy is from the Yurkot School,
which holds that leaders exist only to serve themselves. To place any constraints or demands upon
Dominion, save those required to assert Dominance itself, is to weaken and even
deny the truth of pure Dominion. Saying
that ‘a leader must do this or that’ is dictating to one’s betters. If a leader cannot lead, they will be removed
from Dominance soon enough.”
“You realize that’s circular and contradictory, right?”
“If limited by propositional logic,
perhaps, yet the essential truth of the School is proven again and again, in both
Mauraug and Human history. Dominant
leaders emerge in many ways and fall in many ways. Trying to define the terms under which rule
may occur generates false and poor leaders and also false and poor
followers. You assert your power in a
different way than I do, true?”
“Sure, but there’s arguments for and
against us both. Physical beatings only
go so far. I only manage as long as the
crew is kept separated by their prejudices and specialties. I’d be willing to say there’s a third, better
option in there somewhere.”
“I would say no. We use the tools we have, in the
circumstances we have, to their greatest effect. What other options are there? This is not a military ship, with the
convenience of indoctrination to enforce a shared code of conduct upon those
too weak to resist. It is not a hive
mind, with the comfort of shared purpose countering any personal desires. This is an outlaw ship, crewed with wildly
individual, culturally dissenting, and willingly violent sapients. Our methods of leadership work here, where
other methods would not, else we would be replaced and probably dead.”
“I suppose I can see that, but…”
Evgeny was interrupted, not rudely but firmly.
“Captain,
if anything, you disappoint me in not already recognizing this. You seem to have developed an unpleasant
guilt. We should speak more later, but
this is not the time for extended discussion.”
Evgeny
was still uncertain what he had lost or won in the exchange of words. Soloth did not seem offended, and that was
fortunate. Evgeny still felt that he had
lost the moral high ground. He had
certainly lost some respect in the eyes of his first mate. Being lectured about his adherence to a
religion he did not personally share would normally be absurd, but for some
reason, he felt embarrassed.
Soloth
had that effect sometimes. The Mauraug
was more than a brute. For one evidence,
it delivered its punishments with selective care and used threats to their
maximum advantage. Apparently, underlying that
physical aspect was a thoughtful consideration of force and its
effects. By comparison, Evgeny felt like
the lumbering ape, fumbling his way through one crisis after another.
Evgeny
resolved to at least reclaim the semblance of self-respect. He could work on clearing out his personal
feelings later. For now, there were
interlopers on board his ship. He needed
to find out their plans and their capabilities.
That was the first step in making those plans change to his own
benefit. Overriding the Ningyo’s advantages
and asserting his own was the next step.
Soloth was right. If Evgeny
Lerner could not assert Dominion on his own ship, it wasn’t his anymore.
“Fine. Let’s get back to the bridge. We’ll see if Katy and ‘Po have anything new
we can use. The Ning’ can come join us
whenever they’re ready to shove off.”
“Very
good, captain.”
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