Chapter Two
Stevan
“My Lord,” Kergah said, dropping to his knee.
“Rise and approach,” I ordered.
I hadn’t slept well last night and was in an ill temper. Even the attentions of the lovely and lustful Sereni hadn’t been able to quieten the voices in my head, and after I had finished with her, I’d sent her away.
Kergah paused before my desk. “We have news.”
There was something in his tone that interested me. “What news?”
“We have discovered another race. An Ancient Ones race.”
My eyes opened wide. A new race hadn’t been discovered in nearly a half-million years. “Where?”
Kergah smiled as he placed the recording cube on my desk and waved his hand over it. A star map appeared with a blinking red and blue dot. By default, red was Firaspatciti, so the blue dot had to be the newly discovered civilization.
“Here, my Lord, 40,000 light years distant, in the Sagittarius arm.” The view zoomed with dizzying speed. “They are a young race, perhaps only 200,000 years old.”
“Two hundred thousand years? Are you sure?” That was far younger than the next youngest known civilization, the Kreedeans.
“They are still using fossil fuels and are confined to a single planet, a water world, third from their star.”
“They have no knowledge of the rest of the peoples in the galaxy?”
“No, my Lord.”
“And they can breed?”
Kergah smiled. “Like a three-cocked Snath.”
I smiled, but my heart sank. By ancient law, the more advanced peoples were prohibited from interacting with cultures that had no knowledge of their existence. It was the oldest of laws, handed down from the Ancient Ones. This new race was what we needed, young, vigorous, with their genetic code not tainted by millions of years of evolution. We could breed with them, incorporate their genetic material into our own and begin to thrive again. But it was forbidden.
There had to be a way. The news throughout the galaxy was grim. Of the three thousand different peoples that made up the known races of the galaxy, from the Aquallians to the Zykzree, all were seeing a dramatic drop in their birth rates. The galaxy was dying, and attempts to interbreed weren’t working.
All the Peoples were genetically compatible, and a few successful pairings were producing offspring, but it wasn’t enough, fast enough. If something didn’t change, in perhaps ten thousand years, the only people left might be these young ones on their tiny blue world.
“Show me,” I ordered as I rose.
I followed Kergah to the palace receiving room, where the large fixed portal resided. Kergah opened a portal, and I saw their world for the first time.
“Do these people have a name?”
“We haven’t deciphered their languages yet, but we believe they call themselves Human.”
I tried the word, and it came easily off the tongue. “Human. Perhaps from the Huimuannirky?”
Kergah shook his head. “Unlikely. According to ancient records, the Huimuannirky spread through the Orion arm, and Human is only one of the names they seem to use for themselves. They haven’t developed a unified language yet. We also believe they call themselves Terrans and Earthers. We’ve only just discovered the Humans and the scholars haven’t had time to build a comprehensive understanding of them. I knew you’d want to know of the discovery as soon as possible.”
I gripped Kergah on the shoulder. “Where would the Firaspatciti, the entire galaxy, be without you?”
Kergah smiled, gripping my shoulder in return. “The same could be said for you, Stevan.”
We broke our bond and Kergah zoomed the portal in. The portal was set to transmit light and sound, but nothing else. It hovered on the street and as ground-based conveyances passed. The Humans were obviously from the Ancients Ones, but they displayed a vast array of shapes and coloring, from very pale skin like the Higuarian to very dark like the Kullear. Some were tall, as we were, others petite. They were heavy and light, old and young, with vibrancy and variety that came with youth. They hadn’t yet bred themselves into a set of single general traits that came to define a people.
“This is exactly what we need,” I said as the Humans went about their lives. “The entire planet is like this?”
“We obviously haven’t had the time to observe the entire planet, but the major population centers are all like this, yes.”
“Such variety,” I said, my voice soft with awe. “These Humans seem to possess some trait from all the know peoples.”
“Yes, my Lord. But they are so young and it is forbidden to contact them.”
I nodded slowly. It was the most ancient and sacred of our laws, a law that the Firaspatciti had enforced for millions of years. But if these Humans truly contained the raw Ancient Ones DNA, then perhaps they could… I paused as I thought. We couldn’t interact with them, but perhaps one of them could interact with us.
As I watched, a lovely creature with hair the color of a Firaspatciti sunset appeared. She was walking quickly, her purse thrown over his left shoulder, a heavy bag in her right hand. Most of the females carried some variety of bags, while few of the males did. Almost out of view to the left a male ripped the satchel from an old woman’s hand and began to run, knocking her to the ground in the process. The elderly woman cried out as she fell and I thinned my lips in disapproval. All cultures went through the stage of preying on each other, and the Humans were no different. It was reasoned such as these that we were forbidden to interact with younger races, giving them time to mature before being included in the larger galactic community.
As the male rushed past, the female that had caught my eye spun quickly, using her heavy bag as a weapon, striking the male in the head. His face exploded in a spray of blood, and he went hard to the ground. The female began kicking at him viciously, screaming at him in a language I couldn’t understand, but she was obviously enraged. The man struggled to his feet and ran. The female picked up the satchel to keep for herself, the stronger taking from the weaker, but then she approached the woman who had been knocked down.
The stronger female helped the weaker to her feet, then return the satchel as others, male and female alike, crowded around. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but it was obvious from their actions they were concerned for her wellbeing. I watched, fascinated. The aggressive woman was a dichotomy. She had the fierceness of a warrior, but the gentleness of a healer. She’d taken on an opponent much larger than herself without fear, but in a moment, she was as gentle as the Aquallian.
“Track her,” I ordered, pointing to the woman as she began to move away.
The portal followed her as she moved along the street and into her rooms. Kergah controlled the portal, and I watched as she prepared a meal then watched some form of displayed image with sound on a device as she consumed her food.
“Did you see how aggressive she was?” I asked as the female ate.
I was fascinated as I watched the two females on the video. I couldn’t understand the words, but this was obviously some form of entertainment in this world.
I couldn’t understand. The female didn’t seem at all shocked as the two woman she was watching killed a man with some sort of weapon, and as I continued to watch, I realized this was probably not real and was being staged for amusement.
Kergah and I continued to watch the female, fascinated as she watched intently while a male and female copulated in front of her on the device. We continued to watch until she closed the device and moved to another room and groomed herself.
She returned to her sleeping chamber and pleased herself with another device, her soft moans as her naked body writhed in front of us making me think of Sereni. I grinned at Kergah.
“A three cocked Snath is right.”
Kergah snickered. “They seemed obsessed with breeding.”
“That’s what we need, Kergah.”
“I know, my Lord, but there is nothing we can do.”
“Perhaps there is one thing.”
“What?” Kergah asked, his tone cautious.
“An experiment. As we a not allowed to interact with them, perhaps it would be possible to have one of them interact with us.”
Kergah squinted. “I’m not sure I understand.”
I smiled. He understood perfectly well, he just didn’t want to believe I was suggesting it.
“We should bring this one here. Perhaps there is much we can learn from her.”
“We can’t, my Lord! Stevan, it is forbidden!”
I nodded. Kergah only called me by my name when under great stress. I knew what I was proposing was forbidden, but I was desperate. I couldn’t allow the Firaspatciti, the entire galaxy, to wither and die. Not when there was even a glimmer of hope.
“Do you have a better solution?”
“No, but what of our laws?”
I shook my head slowly. “You’ve seen what they’re like. Even in the time I’ve watched this one, I saw a male preying on a weaker female. This one didn’t even flinch at the killing of another male or the attack of a male on a female on her entertainment device. They are ruthless and barbaric. We could take any one of them, and they would soon be forgotten.”
“Yes, I understand,” Kergah said quietly. “But it is still forbidden.”
“Great battles are only won with great risk,” I said softly.
Kergah swallowed hard. “Understood, my Lord. But who? Which of them should we take?”
“Why not this one? She doesn’t appear to have children or a mate. She exhibits both strength and tenderness.” I smiled. “She’s certainly lusty enough.”
Kergah drew himself up to his full height as he came to ridged attention. “My Lord,” he said formally. “I must protest this proposed action.”
“Noted,” I said with a nod. His protest was expected.
“You can’t be seen violating our most sacred law. Therefore, I offer myself. I will go, take this female, and then offer my life for the transgression.”
I smiled. This was going exactly as I expected. “No. Not you, Kergah. I will go.”
“No, Stevan. You can’t!”
“I must. I can not, will not, order another man to violate the non-interference law.”
“You’re not ordering me—”
“Order!” I barked, rendering Kergah mute. “Allowing you to go with my knowledge is the same as commanding you. I will not dishonor you or myself by ordering you to do what I will not. I will go.” I made Kergah stand at attention a moment longer to reinforce my order. “Stand down, Kergah,” I said softly. “This is how it must be. You know that as well as I do.”
Kergah relaxed. “Yes, my Lord.”
He wasn’t happy, but he was a good solider and would follow his orders. I trusted him like no other man in the galaxy. I gripped his shoulder. “You’re a good friend and trusted alley. Help me save the galaxy.”
He nodded then smiled. “Yes, my Lord. The trip will be dangerous. 40,000 light years is at the extreme range of the portal. You may not be able to return.”
I nodded. Getting to the Humans wouldn’t be a problem. The Firaspatciti based portal could reach far further, but the portal control that I would carry with me wasn’t nearly as powerful. It would be, by far, the longest tunnel ever created by a man based unit if I had to return with only one tunnel.
“I know. Find me a planet so that I can make the trip back with two tunnels.”
Kergah nodded, pivoted, and left. If we knew of life-sustaining planet between Firaspatciti and Terra, then I could tunnel to the first planet, allow the portal to recharge, then complete the journey home. The problem was, the Humans were far beyond what space had been thoroughly explored.
After the miscarriage of Terisha, I had asked all races to begin exploring unknown space, looking for something, anything, which could help us stave off extinction. The Ancient Ones reach had extended across 10,500 light years of space, but there were still vast amounts of the galaxy we knew nothing about. The Humans were in that unknown space.
The Firaspatciti were the leader of the people, settling disputes, through force if necessary, and keeping the peace. We were one of the oldest of the old ones, and most worlds had followed our lead and joined in the search. Now, a year later, we’d found something. This was an opportunity that I wasn’t going to allow to slip through my fingers; ancient law be damned.