Date Point: 15y7m1w AV
Planet Akyawentuo, the Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm
The Singer
There were times when the Given-Men gathered and brought the wisest men and women of their tribes with them to talk about important things. Sooner or later, Yan would probably call one of those.
Today was not quite that big. Today, the People were meeting… more like a big family. They brought food and wood, they stoked a big fire, they brought things they had made for trading… Probably later there’d be some trading of partners for the night. A few babies to mix the tribes and bring them together. That was always the way these things went.
But this wasn’t a celebration, this was just catching up. Sharing the news, and the gossip, and the rumours.
Vemik of course was proving to be wildly popular. He was telling the story of Earth and all the things he had seen there. He made the Human home sound… strange, beautiful, fascinating. Full of different challenges, and little beasts like squirrels, big beasts like Moose, and treasures like the slush-ee.
Strange how even the Humans also had a beast whose name was not spoken, and instead they called it “Brown One.”
“A little like the Brown One we know! Much smaller, not as heavy-built, probably can’t run as fast. But also quicker on its feet, still very strong for its size, I think smarter too… It warned us off, but Jooyun said that Human and Bear fear each other…”
…And so on. A number of women from other tribes were not-so-subtly maneuvering for the chance to get him to themselves later, which the Singer couldn’t help but trill softly at. She wasn’t jealous at all and the world could only be a better place for having plenty of Vemik’s children in it. But he honestly wouldn’t notice their attention unless one of them tied him down or the Singer herself prompted him.
…Which she might do, actually. Matu, from Darm’s tribe, was pretty, strong, young, and smart…and in any case, he needed to enjoy himself as well as work. Sometimes taking care of men was harder than children!
Not tonight, though. Singer trilled to herself; tonight he was too excited about storytelling to be of much use to any woman.
It was a good thing Yan was there to nod along and confirm what Vemik was saying, though. A lot of the People had only seen a Human once or twice at most, including some of those present who kept giving Heff strange looks. They’d never seen their spaceships, or their rifles, or all the other miracles they carried as casually as the People carried knives. To them, all the talk of huge shining villages and bright lights that let them work through the night and cartoons and all the rest of it sounded beyond belief.
Especially the vack-seens.
There was a circle of Given-Men and Singers discussing those around one of the fires, and as the Singer approached it she heard one of the other, older Singers as a perfectly fair question. “How can we ask them for a Giving that big? A magic to fight back sickness and let most of our children live and grow? What can we ever Give in return to match it?”
“Don’t think that Humans will see it that way,” the Singer said, sitting down opposite the older woman. “To us it may be the greatest Giving ever. To them, it may be a small thing.”
“And what seems a small thing to us might be a great Giving indeed to the Humans,” one of the Given-Men, Hed, added. The Singer nodded. Hed was one of the few Given-Men who’d got to know the Humans: Like Yan, he could taste the change on the wind and wanted to know about it. And being much younger than Yan, he’d be around for much more of it.
“How can that be? Life is the greatest Giving of all!”
“They have these words, ‘supply’ and ‘demand,’” the Singer said. “If you have a lot of a thing, it does not hurt you much to Give it. If you do not have very much, it is a great thing to be Given.”
“That… makes sense,” the older Singer admitted. “But how can a tribe have so much life to Give?”
“How can a tribe fly between the stars? Or use the power of stars to make weapons that shake the earth and flatten trees? Humans did both,” Hed said. “This Singer is right. They do not see things the same way we do. They are…”
“Aliens,” the Singer prompted.
“…Yes.”
“…And they will Give us this Vack-Seen thing?”
“If they see it as a Giving, yes. They do not like to Take. And Professor Daniel believes that sometimes the wrong kind of Giving can become a Taking.”
“Give a child too much of a soft thing, they become soft,” one of the other Given-Men, Dinem, agreed with a nod. “They respect us, but we are still like children to them.”
He didn’t seem offended by that, at least.
They looked again over at Heff, who was gnawing on a chunk of jerky and performing strange little tricks for the children. He could make a swatch of cloth vanish from his hands and reappear behind the bewildered child’s ear. It was just clever trickery with his hands, but the Singer had to admit that if she didn’t know how he was doing it, she’d be just as confused as the children.
“…What do you want me to say? It’s good to have friends. There are too many evils out there.”
“Better still to have friends who are cautious not to make us soft,” Hed nodded. “They respect us, Singer,” he added, addressing the older Singer. “They could ignore us or destroy us. Instead they talk with us, and share, and trade. I think they have earned trust.”
“Yan certainly thinks so,” the Singer agreed. The older Singer nodded, then glanced at the oldest Singer present, a wizened wrinkly old woman whose crest was as grey as Forestfather bark, who’d stirred as if to say something.
Out of respect, they waited patiently. This old Singer took a while to get her words out, but they were always worth hearing. She plucked at the blanket around her shoulders and frowned distantly at Heff before finally speaking.
“We will not be The People if we live in big bright villages like them,” she warned. “But we will not be The People if we die of sickness either. The Gods want balance in all things.”
They all nodded.
“…And what if the Humans say no?” Dinem asked.
“Then we trust them,” the old Singer said.
“They won’t,” the Singer predicted. The oldest one looked at her.
“…You know it? They will give us vack-seens, you see it like storms on the horizon?”
“I know Humans well enough. They won’t say no. At worst, they will say ‘not yet.’”
The old Singer considered that for a second, then smiled warmly, nodded, and fell silent.
That seemed to end the conversation, so the Singer used her tail to push herself to her feet and politely excused herself.
The last stop on her tour, of course, was Yan. He was feasting and flirting with a few young women and generally enjoying himself, but every so often between tearing meat off a bone or saying something outrageously charming he’d pause to hold forth on Clan matters, questions of justice and territory and Giving and Taking… all the things that were expected of the senior Given-Man.
“Hello, Uncle,” the Singer greeted him with a hug. “You haven’t stopped eating since you got back, didn’t they feed you on Earth?”
She heard a bark of laughter from Heff, whom Yan glanced toward with an amused expression. “They gave me enough to get by.”
“You cost us over [twenty thousand dollars] to feed, big guy!”
Yan trilled in amusement. “Some of that was a mistake!”
[“Twenty thousand] is a lot?” the Singer checked.
“Four circles big of mun-ee, Singer. It is quite a lot.”
“Enough to feed a human family for a couple of years. I’m countin’ that bull he an’ Vemik ate.”
“That was a long time ago. We ate snacks on Earth. No big food.”
“What about the moose? And the deer?”
Yan waved his hand dismissively. “We brought most of that back to Give. Doesn’t count.”
The Singer caught Heff’s eye, and for just a moment des pite the strange alien shape of his face and the strange round eyes and the total lack of a tail, she could read the look on his face perfectly, and he hers. The Human shook his head with a smirk and humored Yan.
“When you put it like that it’s true. We starved you. Shame on us.”
Yan wasn’t about to take any sass from someone two hands smaller than him. He trilled, charged over, and snatched Heff up before he had any chance to escape. Yan knuckled back to the fire with Heff wrapped up in his tail, then flipped him around, smashed him up in a hug, and plopped down to enjoy the heat. Heff sighed and resigned himself to his fate, accompanied by the sound of everyone else at the fire trilling merrily.
“Urf! …No mercy, big guy?”
Yan grunted in amusement and hugged tighter. “No.”
“Do you a… hngh! …deal. I got news on Julian.”
Yan of course meant no harm, and loosened up just enough to hear. “He will visit soon?”
“I guess, but that’s not the news. Him, Xiù and Al are gonna start having babies.”
Yan and the Singer both let out an approving hoot. “About time!” The Singer exclaimed.
“Yeah, they’re pretty… oof! …excited.” Heff managed to get both hands on the end of Yan’s tail and succeeded in unwinding it a little. “Yan, buddy, a man’s gotta have ribs!”
“You’re tough! Good to fight a little now and then.”
“Yan…”
“Fine, fine.” He loosened up enough that Heff sighed in relief, but didn’t let him go. Several of the other men nearby were trilling openly at the sight.
“They are with child?” The Singer checked, eagerly.
“That part I don’t know yet. Just that they’re off the birth control medicine and goin’ at it pretty much like y’all do. Lucky bastard.”
“How long?”
“Given those three, I’d bet pretty soon. After that, uh… nine months in our time so… two seasons?”
“So quick!” the Singer said.
“Maybe I got the time wrong.”
“No. Is right,” Yan said confidently. “Why so quick though?”
“Asking the wrong guy. But, uh, your babies can climb almost right away. Ours are helpless for almost a year. Earth year. And we’re smaller than you. Maybe that’s it? I dunno, babies and birth aren’t my…” he trailed off and then used an English word. [“Forté.] Means what I’m good at.”
Yan rolled over the top of Heff and chided him gently. “You should make babies, Heff! The world needs more of you.”
“Yan… All respect and all? But the world really, really doesn’t need more of me.”
…Well. That caught everyone flat-footed, especially Yan, who rolled up into a sitting position and dragged Heff along, this time much more affectionately.
“Well, I think it does.”
“…Thanks. But… No. I would make a very bad father. I’m just being honest.”
“You won’t even try?” the Singer asked.
“Well, I’m pretty sure I do have a kid, actually. But that was years ago, and the woman never said it was mine. With her it would be hard to know. She had a lot of men.”
“And? Many children and men around, we don’t know who their father is,” the Singer said. “We raise them.”
“We don’t really work that way. Our kids need both parents to grow up the best they can. It’s how God made us. So, sure, I can be a father, I can give a woman a baby. Sure. But I can’t be a [daddy.] That ain’t… I’d be the wrong kind of example.”
Very strange. Very alien. But… the Singer could see what he meant. And from what Yan and Vemik had said, there were so very, very many humans that maybe there was no shame for them in being a man who didn’t leave children.
But still… “If not children, what will you leave?” she asked. “Everyone should have something they leave when they go back to the Gods.”
Heff actually smiled. “I saved some lives, I stopped some evil people, and here I am building a future with you people,” he said. “I’m leaving plenty, I think.”
“You could leave more.”
“You can always leave more. But when I face Judgement… I guess all I’ll have to say for myself is ‘I am how you made me, and I tried to do good.’ That’s really all a man can do.”
Yan nodded at that, gently spun him around and let him go. “…So. It will be a long time before we meet these children.”
“They’ll visit. We don’t know what high gravity does to our babies, so they won’t visit for long, but they’ll visit. Let the kids get a few seasons and their feet under them first. We know high gravity isn’t so bad when they’re a bit older. Warhorse proved that.”
“Made him strong!”
“Stronger than you, big guy!’
The Singer grinned and stood up as of course Yan got Heff around the waist with his tail again and the affectionate struggling began again.
“I’m not hnnngh wrong though!”
She left them to have fun and returned to Vemik. Time to repeat the cycle. There was so much to keep track of today, and only so little time in the day.
Besides, maybe hearing the news about Jooyun, Awisun and Shyow would inspire him to look for a woman’s company tonight. It’d be good for him.
A Singer’s work was never done. Fortunately, she enjoyed it.
Date Point: 15y7m1w AV
High Mountain Fortress, Northern Plains, Gao
Father Regaari of Clan Whitecrest
Regaari had a courier envelope to deliver to the Great Father, one dispatched from Ambassador Rockefeller directly. While he still had diplomatic duties owing to his relationship with the Humans, he’d been…relieved of his prior responsibilities as Daar’s personal assistant. That was understandable and honestly a bit of a blessing. Every time he had to face the Great Father, his heart threatened to tear itself in half. He’d sacrificed the longest, deepest friendship of his life in an act of extreme hubris. There was no escaping that.
But there was no escaping the Great Father, either. Today, he had to face him.
His reception at High Mountain Fortress was icily professional. Both Clan Highmountain and Clan Stoneback jointly protected the ancient compound, both were near fanatically loyal to the Great Father, and it was by his word alone that Regaari was ever allowed to pass unmolested. That didn’t mean they enjoyed it, or offered anything beyond the barest respect owed a Father of an allied Clan.
Strange. The old building was kept warm by design, had been since its first construction when ‘heating’ meant stone chimneys inside the walls and under the floors that circulated hot air from the hundreds of fireplaces. Those chimneys and floor spaces were warmed by more modern means, but the point was to turn a wind-swept rock on the steppe into a place of warmth and civilization even in the most bitter winter. Usually, he felt warm here.
Now, even the building seemed to be giving him the cold shoulder. Or maybe it was just that his progress through its halls was marked by conversations stopping and movement ceasing. He moved in a bubble of disapproving silence that made the ancient stones seem colder and more echoing than they really were.
…Or maybe it was just his mood. Either way, his paws were beginning to feel numb by the time he reached the top of the tower and scratched on Daar’s door.
“Come in.”
The change in Daar’s body language when he realized who had entered his room couldn’t have been more of a stab. He always started out generally friendly and warm, and then when one of his Brothers or Cousins appeared he’d explode into boisterous motion and shower them with greetings.
This time, he seemed to freeze, stared at Regaari for a second, then returned his attention to his desk.
“Somethin’ important?”
Regaari cleared his throat. “Courier envelope from Ambassador Rockefeller, My Father.”
“Leave it over there.” Daar waved a claw.
Regaari didn’t know what else to do but obey. The envelope was deposited as instructed and…
He coughed, and Daar half-turned to look at him. “…Was there somethin’ else?”
“Yes, My Father. The Dominion trade representative on Cimbrean asked me to convey his belated congratulations for your birthday. He also wants to send a trade delegation to meet with Clan Goldpaw as soon as possible.”
Daar duck-nodded slowly. “I see. Is there anything else?”
“…No, My Father.”
“Right.” Daar’s weary sigh sounded more like a grumble under his breath, but Regaari couldn’t quite make out what he said. “…Thank the representative for me. The delegation request can wait a day or two, I’m takin’ some personal time out at the farm. Thank you, Regaari, you’re dismissed.”
“My Father.” Regaari turned and let himself out. He closed the door behind him and took a deep breath. The silence had been oppressive.
What stopped him dead in his tracks before he could head down the stairs was the fact that he was almost certain he heard Daar keen softly, even through the door. He couldn’t be completely sure—the noise was exceptionally faint—but he’d always had sensitive ears.
If there was a glimmer of hope in all this—and if there was, it was a faint and sickly glimmer—it was that the gulf between them clearly hurt Daar just as much as it hurt Regaari. It was in his power to close that gulf, if he chose to.
If he chose to.
Date Point: 15y7m1w AV
Folctha, Cimbrean, The Far Reaches
Julian Etsicitty
There was an unfamiliar laugh in the kitchen when Julian got home, but he could recognise Allison’s storytelling voice anywhere.
“So I said, ‘Brelm, if you can find some asshole on this station who could stop me then go hire them for your bodyguard instead.’ Have you ever seen a Corti completely lost for words?”
The voice that answered sounded familiar. “Uh… No!”
“If you ever do, savor it. It’s… hey babe!”
Julian hung his jacket by the door, left his boots on the doormat, and finally got to find out who was in the kitchen.
…Dang. Coombes had scored way outside his league. She was even more of a knockout in person than on TV.
“Uh… hi,” he said. Ava Ríos shook his hand.
“Hi. Sorry if I’m intruding, but…”
“But she needed someplace safe.” Allison finished for her. “You know anywhere safer?”
“Not outside the base or ‘Horse’s place, no,” Julian conceded. “No Xiù?”
“She has business on Gao. Daar asked for her personally.”
“Huh.” Julian considered that for a second, then decided what he wanted right now was a glass of water. Fortunately, their fridge dispensed the stuff beautifully cold.
“So you two seem to be getting along?” he asked.
“Yeah. She kinda told me off,” Allison grinned. To Julian’s surprise, Ava looked a little embarrassed but didn’t deny it.
“This I gotta hear,” he said and leaned against the counter.
“I… just get testy when people do the whole ‘I’m suspicious of journalists’ thing,” Ava explained. “I got into this industry in part because I want to be the opposite of some unscrupulous paparazzi hack. I want to make it respectable again, y’know?”
“And Al really doesn’t like the press,” Julian finished.
“Ugh, for good reason. We had decades of–” Ava visibly caught herself and stopped in her tracks. “…Never mind, you don’t wanna hear me rant.”
“Fair enough. How’s Coombes doin’?”
“Derek? He’s good. He’s great, actually.” Now there was the look of a woman thoroughly in love.
“Glad to hear it. Haven’t seen him in too long.”
“He’ll pick me up later.”
“…You really told her off?”
Allison shook her head and stood up to make coffee. She rolled her eyes at Julian on her way past, and gave him a light affectionate rap on the arm with the back of her hand.
Ava cleared her throat. “Sorry.”
“No, I’m impressed! Usually when she’s doing her Sarah Connor bit, I’m intimidated.”
“Ava laughed. “It is pretty fearsome.”
“You think I’m scary, you should see Xiù when she’s genuinely pissed,” Allison commented.
“…Can I ask you a question?” Ava asked. “And, uh, this is pure personal fascination.”
Julian and Allison glanced at each other, then did a kind of synchronized shrug-nod that said ‘go ahead.’
“…How did you three meet?”
“Xiù threatened Julian with a knife.”
“Hey!”
“Well, you did sneak up on her.”
“I did not!”
“Babe, I was there. You totally did.”
“…I don’t remember doing it intentionally…”
“Sure. You just approached the knife-wielding hotty who was threatening Zane quietly from behind because that’s how everybody says hello.”
Allison’s snark got a giggle out of Ava. “Who’s Zane?”
“We ditched him after he tried to kidnap Xiù, steal the ship and leave us stranded.”
“That’s it? You ditched him? I mean, you must have had a reason…”
“‘Cuz he’s a subhuman piece of shit.” Julian finished his water with a gulp and stalked to the sink to rinse the glass.
“…Wow.”
Allison nodded. Her own expression was cold. “Yeah. Imagine the worst bundle of anger management issues and ego you ever met and then he got a good long look at the Huh for good measure.”
“The… what?” Ava asked.
“It’s this weird alien artefact we found,” Allison explained. “Kinda fascinating to look at, but it super fucks with your emotions. After a couple minutes looking at it, all the boys on the ship were about ready to brawl. Like, testosterone everywhere.”
“Not my finest hour,” Julian grumbled.
“Do you still have it?”
Allison shook her head. “Nah. We turned it over to Scotch Creek. And yeah, Zane took one look at that thing then clubbed me in the head with it. So… we left him behind. As far as I know, and I really hope so, he’s still stranded on Aru.”
“…Okay.” Ava clearly looked like she had more questions, but decided against prying further. “…How come you’ve never shared any of this with anybody? I mean, you told people all about the Ten’Gewek and the flight on Misfit and stuff but you played your cards super close to the chest when it came to Sanctuary and what you all did before the Byron Group.”
That was honestly a good question, now that Julian thought about it. And also being honest, it wasn’t one he’d ever put to words. So…
“Well, uh, I s’pose it’s ‘cuz we like our privacy?”
“I get it. Heck, I like my privacy too. But uh…” Ava frowned for a second as she thought. “…There’s some things I’ve felt a lot better for opening up about. Y’know, I have Hannah with me everywhere I go, when I’m on set on the news or doing a piece to camera she’s there. I’ve been pretty open about the fact that she’s my therapy dog, that I’ve been… that I used to think about taking my own life…”
An awkward pause descended for a second before she cleared her throat and forged on. “It’s not easy, putting that stuff out there. But it helps people. I get letters from people. Like, recovering drug addicts, people with depression and anxiety or PTSD, recently divorced dads who’re scared they’ll never see their kids again… If I kept myself completely private, maybe it’d be easier for me. But I wouldn’t be helping anyone. And… I dunno. If I wasn’t at least trying to help people, I don’t know if I’d ever get any better. Y’know?”
Julian couldn’t argue with any of that, really.
Allison slowly returned to the table and sat down. “…Are you okay?” she asked carefully.
“I am now.” Ava smiled. “Thanks for asking. I guess you can’t really relate, huh?”
“I’ve never been there,” Allison said. “Not even on my worst day ever.”
Julian shook his head. “Me either.”
“Good. And that’s honestly pretty inspiring, because I know you went through some shit to get where you are now. And still are. I guess if all you need to handle that is each other then I kinda envy you, but… I mean, personally? I need a mission.”
“You think we should share,” Allison observed.
Julian saw Ava’s expression change subtly. It was a little more calculating now. Not in a sinister way, more like she knew she was straying onto thin ice. “Well… Look, I know I have a vested interest here. But I do what I do because I believe in it. So of course I think you should, and…” she stopped, and scowled. “…And this suddenly turned into me trying to talk you into an interview and I promised myself I wouldn’t do that!”
Julian found himself sympathetic, actually. “Nah, it’s okay. I think we’re all like that, y’know? Allison’s started calling me a slabmonkey lately, ‘cuz it’s starting to turn into my default hobby.”
“You are kinda obsessed, babe,” Allison said mildly. “Like… you could learn how to take apart an engine or something.”
“Well, I’m good at it! And you’re totally not a complete workaholic yourself, right?” Julian shot back with a smile. “And talkin’ about obsessed, how many sockets do you have now?”
“…I don’t have that many…”
A mental image of the six-foot, custom rolling tool chest she’d made for them crossed Julian’s mind. “Uh-huh. But tell you what, you want me to greasemonkey a project with you, I will! If you come and slabmonkey with me. Quid pro quo!”
Ava snorted. “Greasemonkey, slabmonkey… what kind of a monkey is Xiù?”
“She’s a gracemonkey!” Julian announced.
Allison snorted. “The graceful princess of the spacemonkeys.”
“You’re both my space princesses,” Julian said, laying on the sugar and pulling Allison in for a snuggle. She rolled her eyes and if they hadn’t had company she probably would have thrown something at him. Ava meanwhile did her best at hiding another giggle.
“…Point is, we get it. You’ve found something that consumes your life,” Allison said, rather than rising to his syrupy bait. Durn. He’d need to ask Yan for some tips!
“Still. I’m sorry. I wanted to be good.”
“Naw. Hell, Byron Group’s been bugging us to do more PR stuff and, yeah. I bet it’d be good for the Ten’Gewek. Yeah. I mean…I’d maybe think about it.”
“But I’m not doing a naked shoot,” Allison said.
Ava nodded. “That’s fair.”
Julian thought for a moment. “…I thought what you did with Daar was very respectful.”
“Daar’s… not easy to disrespect,” Ava said carefully.
“Ha! That’s true in so many ways…But seriously. He’s the kinda fella who tries really hard to convince himself he don’t have any dignity. But he does, and you found it.”
Allison shot him a look. “Julian…are you thinking of doing this?”
“Well…yeah! Just thinkin’ though. I dunno. Like, if Ava wanted to embarrass Daar, she had the perfect opportunity. She didn’t. I can’t help but think that means something.”
Allison glanced at Ava, whose expression was kind of apologetic hope. “Like… one of those laid bare shoots?”
“Sure, I guess. Heck, I could show off my foot!”
“Careful babe, I’m beginning to worry you might have a foot fetish.”
Julian couldn’t resist the trollish smirk that invaded his face. “We don’t kink shame in this house, Al.”
“Julian…”
“Anyway,” Ava interrupted. “Again, I promised myself I wouldn’t try and talk you into an interview tonight, and even though I apparently suck at keeping that promise, I want to at least try. I’d love to do a Laid Bare shoot with you, but please don’t make that decision right now. Besides, I already have two lined up.”
“Oh yeah? Who with?”
“Derek. And, uh, you probably don’t know the other one. She was a reactor technician on HMS Caledonia.”
“That’s fair,” Julian said. “I wouldn’t do it without thinkin’ it over anyway, and also my partners both have to say yes. And I’d wanna, uh, get ready for it anyway. But yeah. All I’ll say is I’m open to it.”
“Thanks…” Ava relaxed a bit. “Uh… Anyway. Allison was telling me about how you two first met.”
Allison stopped giving Julian the eyebrow, and blinked as she was pulled back into story mode “…Uh… Right! So, when Sanctuary first got permission to jump back to Earth, I took a little vacation. There were some folks in Boston I wanted to catch up with and let them know I was okay. Kirk I guess went off to do some other stuff, because when he came back he had Julian on board, and…”
Julian sat back and half-listened, but really his mind was drifting ahead to the future. He knew what Al would say: she’d eventually agree, and then she’d get enthusiastically behind him pushing his comfort zone. And it would be pushing it, too. He’d often run around Vemik’s village effectively or sometimes actually stark naked. That somehow didn’t bother him. But this? This was something way different.
Which was probably why the idea was so inspiring. He had, he realized, already made up his mind.
By the time Coombes showed up to take Ava home, he was pretty sure they’d made a friend, too.