Chapter 33: Pulse Resolution — Part 8
I thank you because you have given us a way to defend ourselves against hostile forces, a way to focus and organize, and a way to solve complex problems that we never fathomed before. In return, saving but two of your collective is minor. There is much injustice within your species. If you need help unifying humanity and bringing those who seek the illogical control of the human unity to conclusion, we will ally with your cause.
Your relations with the natives of Antans have proven your ability to live in peace with others who are not human. Now we would like the human race to live in peace with us. Please take my thanks to your Leader. All alien races will know of our alliance with your Coalition, and that will bring upon your species far more respect than it has previously experienced. May we learn unity of a whole universe of thinking creatures.
Yes, thank you. I will pass your thoughts, as best I can, onto Susan. Vertigo walked dizzily away from the Star One, her head spinning.
Her legs felt weak, and she knew she’d been irreversibly changed by the contact. Her eyes still sensed the light, but how she thought of the light had changed. Her ears still registered sound, but what it represented was no longer equal to what it had been. Music was something she had never understood, but merely enjoyed. Now the cacophony of thought and sound around her seemed in and of itself to be music, and music made a sort of instinctive sense that she had never been privy to before. Vertigo felt part of something, yet still herself. It was a feeling she had taken for granted, as if no other way of existing had ever been conceivable — until now. Perhaps North’s change in personality and loyalty to Rhombus could be linked to more than the camaraderie of crewmates.
Vertigo spoke quietly. “Have the Kindred set course for Antans. Jonathan, see to the needs of the twins. Once we’re well away from here, transmit to the Grison Cynosure’s nearest satellite our desire for peace.”
The Kindred shot into twisted space, but the utter astonishment of alien contact stayed in Vertigo’s head, making her senses swim. Her head hummed with the thoughts of two species in her mind. The Pental’s thoughts were deep and intermixed, their alien emotions and indefinable drives nearly overwhelming her, crowding her human experience, that, though much more familiar, felt equally perplexing given her current perceptions.
Susan. Mission successful, we’re on our way home. Vertigo’s thoughts reached Susan days before the Kindred did, bringing Susan tremendous relief.
Susan sat alone with Vertigo, examining her old friend as her children played in the mists. The day seemed even more hazy than usual, a calm cold fire adding its glow to the surface of trees and rocks. The examination was less medicinal than concern — Vertigo had been on Earth without Coalition contact for many months. Alien contact had changed her entire psychology. Susan could feel these changes in Vertigo, envying her for her experiences. Susan hugged Vertigo closely, nearly squeezing the air from her lungs, worried and longing and missing her all at once. She had already worried well over her children, and would worry more once Vertigo had been dealt with.
“First we thought you were lost to us. Your return to us is incredible, and so is the ship you came back in. The Antansi won’t even touch it, for fear of hurting or offending it. You’ve united us with yet another alien species, one the Antansi say is normally reclusive and whose thoughts are difficult to fathom. What happened out there?”
Vertigo sighed. “I don’t know. Our ship was literally destroyed. We left its remains in the impact crater, with its drones roving about aimlessly. We didn’t do much more than a peripheral observation, decided it was junk, and took up planting trees. What felt to us to be an eternity later, the Grison Scout Ships came. We found the Kindred the way it is now, and its advantages saved us from certain death. It’s a living thing now, and it’s very loyal to us. It calls us its creators.”
Susan thought about things a moment. Vertigo’s head seemed to hum, her eyes glistening in the dim lights of the village. She had become a Leader during her months of isolation.
Susan considered Vertigo’s odd fate. “Laura leads the Vodians. Devon, Kris, and Jerem are all still on sabbatical, trying to create justification for allying with the Triple Union. In a few days, a fleet will be dispatched to Earth, and put in your charge, if you will accept the responsibility of tending to her. Grison will want Earth, and will do anything to claim it.”
Susan hugged Vertigo fiercely, fighting back tears. Vertigo kissed Susan on the cheek, and Susan kissed her on the lips. She held her close, breathing in Vertigo’s breath, listening intently while Vertigo did her best to relay her experiences with Star One. In time the two understood each other, and Susan knew that Vertigo would some day soon drift apart and form her own Tribe.
“Good-bye, and good luck. Take care of Earth.” Susan said.
“Take care of your children.” Vertigo returned.
