Now where was I? Oh, that’s right. We’d escaped the plant centauroids’ system somehow. For now, we were safe. It looked like the jump had taken us to a small system. Only one planet orbited its yellow star, but the asteroid belts looked promising. Quick calculations by Nilsa indicated that the planet was in the habitable zone. Since our sensors didn’t show any signs of habitation, we decided to approach.
It turned out to be habitable. Although readings indicated a hot climate, the world looked like it had plenty of water and vegetation. There even seemed to be some metallic objects scattered around the surface. All of them appeared to be in the center of impact craters. My first urge was to land at one of them. I suppose my days of risk-taking with Kira and the others were shining through, but I took the smugglers’ advice. We landed in the hills near one of the objects. Everybody suited up and we hiked that way. I was just glad to be on a world that wasn’t immediately hostile. So was Handy, my survival droid.
This planet was indeed hot: sticky, sweltering, and exhausting. Compared to some other places I’d been, it wasn’t so bad. The fruit we found was quite edible, and the water tested negative for any toxins. The plants were bright and colorful. A few even turned in our direction. One of Nilsa’s crew gave them a plasma weedwhack, but it didn’t seem to bother the other plants. I was still somewhat paranoid. Plants didn’t normally react this way.
After half an hour of walking, we reached the object. Its impact had made a clearing in the middle of the jungle. I could still see the scorched trail it left in its wake. There was no smoke streaming from it, so I figured it had been here a while. Looking at the object itself, I recognized some of the decoration. It was a piece of a sleeper ship.
I had a hunch. “Fall back.” If there were centauroids aboard, and they were awake, I didn’t want them killing us.
We slipped back into the jungle. Once I made sure we were hidden, I explained my theory.
“So?” Nilsa said. “They’re probably dead, and if they aren’t, they’ll be weak. That’s good scavenging.”
I’d been in too many dangerous situations to assume it would go that smoothly. Besides, the Sith technicians on Archegeph hadn’t been too weak after we’d awakened them. Stasis was almost perfect preservation. It was great for automated colonization efforts . . . or conquest, as the case might be. I thought about leaving the wreckage where it was. This world was unsettled, and there was plenty of space between it and the other bits of colony ship.
But then I realized something. This was a bit of colony ship wreckage. If some of its passengers had survived in stasis, they’d probably be without supplies. They’d be idiots if they attacked people who could give them supplies. Or this galaxy’s equivalent of Kredath Berserkers, but I doubted even Kredath Berserkers would be that stupid.
“You know what, Nilsa? You’re right. Let’s go.”
We returned to the smugglers’ ship, the Silent Sun, to get Beren the mechanic’s welding tools. None of us had seen any obvious openings in the wreckage. Then we came back to the crash site. Examining the wreckage more closely, we determined that our first impressions had been accurate. I also heard banging inside. Somebody wanted out. Even if they were paranoid or psychotic, I couldn’t blame them. Crashes are no fun.
“Okay,” I said. “We should go in from the top. I don’t think centauroids are good at climbing or jumping, so they shouldn’t trample us.”
Nobody had a problem with my reasoning, so Beren began cutting into the wreckage’s hull. A few minutes later, we had a human-sized hole. That led to our next problem.
“So who’s going in first?” Nilsa asked.
None of us wanted that honor. Getting trampled hurts. Believe me, I’ve hunted enough herd animals to know. I could hear panicky voices below, so I proposed that we draw straws before the colonists became hysterical. Guess who got the short one? Yeah, I should have known better than to draw straws with experienced gamblers.
I shrugged. Somebody had to check things out. So I got a rope and borrowed Nilsa’s blaster pistol. My plan was simple. I had a good idea of how far these aliens could reach. I’d lower the rope just out of their reach, climb down, and negotiate from a reasonably safe position. If the aliens were going to play nice, I’d have Beren cut another hole for them to escape. If not, I planned to tug the rope, have Nilsa pull me up, and continue negotiations from there.
Inside, this bit of wreckage appeared to be a stasis block. I could see some dead aliens on the floor, soaked in green blood-and live, mostly injured ones, pressed against the far wall. All of them seemed to be withered and none of them seemed to be armed. So far, so good.
Instead of waving, I just smiled and tried to be as reassuring as possible. “We come in peace.”
I didn’t get quite the reaction I expected. They didn’t attack. They just stared.
Maybe they were shocked to encounter sapient aliens so quickly. Or maybe they were going to save the slaughter for when they were healthy and armed. Either way, they seemed to have some sense. “Don’t worry. My associate is going to cut a hole for you.” I mimed a circle with my free hand.
One of them pointed to the left, then to the right. It took me a moment to realize the alien was asking which side Beren would be cutting through. I shouted up to ask him. He pointed to the right, so I pointed in that direction. The aliens started moving toward the left wall. I figured they didn’t want the sparks to hurt them. “I’ll see you on the other side,” I said, climbing back to the surface.
When I returned, Beren had already climbed down and begun cutting. I pulled the rope back up and lowered it for him. No point in him being trapped below if they decided to double cross us. What had happened, though? These centauroids hadn’t behaved like the ones in Equine at all. They seemed skittish and nervous.
Beren soon finished cutting and joined us atop the wreckage. The centauroids trickled out, carrying their wounded as best they could. What I saw next was somewhat startling. They placed their injured on the ground, where they took root. I think even Nilsa was taken aback. My curiosity overwhelmed my suspicion. I decided to see what was happening.
I climbed down and slowly approached one of the uninjured aliens. “Is your friend . . . healing?”
There seemed to be a bit of comprehension there. After a long pause, the alien nodded.
I pointed to myself. “My name’s Alys. What’s yours?”
Another long pause. “Millari.”
“I’m glad you’re safe.”
The centauroid blurted something. I thought I could pick out something about conquest.
I was dumbfounded for a moment. Then I realized Millari’s species probably had holos. I remembered old holos that depicted aliens as savage conquerors. It was reasonable to assume that aliens might have similar ones-especially aliens that hadn’t encountered other sapient beings. I shook my head and said, again, “We come in peace.”
That seemed to reassure Millari. Still, the language was hard to decipher. There had to be some way to get their trust. Water probably would be a good start. Judging from the withering, they hadn’t had any in a while. I radioed Nilsa. “Could you tell Handy to find some water, and help him gather it?”
“Sure, but don’t we have plenty?”
“It’s for the aliens.” She went silent. “Trust me, I have a plan.”
I spent the next couple of hours among the centauroids. The rest of Nilsa’s crew eventually joined me, and we got a lot of curious stares. In the meantime, I continued discussion with Millari. I was able to piece enough of their language together to get some information. This species called themselves, and their system, the Vellinari. Millari and her fellow colonists (males had split manes, females had unsplit ones) were part of the scientific section. They had no idea how the ship had crashed or where the colonial leaders were.
“How long you were in stasis, Millari?”
“I think five hundred years.”
“What was happening when you left?”
“Not much other than the colony launches. Some of my colleagues were researching stabilization.”
That piqued my interest. Somehow I suspected “stabilization” didn’t have the same meaning in her language. “Stabilization?”
“Well, we become frightened easily. We were worried about invasion, so our top pharmacologists were researching drugs and genetic treatments to change that.”
I thought back to the system I had been calling Equine. Its defense had been awfully heavy for a species that didn’t encounter other aliens that much. Fear could become paranoia so easily, and messing with the minds of an entire species could have nasty side effects. “That’s good to know. We’ll try not to surprise you too much.”
“At least this place seems safe. Maybe we can-”
Millari stopped talking and seemed to be staring over my shoulder. I looked in that direction. Nilsa and Handy had returned, carting several containers of water. “Oh yeah. I had Nilsa get some water. We’ll have to purify it, of-”
She shoved me out of the way. It was definitely a stampede to the water containers. Fortunately, Nilsa managed to drag Handy out of the way and evade them. My hunch had been correct. The Vellinari didn’t bother with drinking; they just poured the water all over themselves, soaking the wounded first. I approached Nilsa.
“Thanks for doing that. Did you have any trouble?”
“Some local beast tried to eat me, but the droid blasted him. Oh yeah, and I want my damn pistol back.”
“Oops.” I returned the blaster pistol. Mother had insisted I buy Handy, and now he’d saved Nilsa from getting injured or worse.
Within the hour, the Vellinari no longer looked so withered. They finally relaxed. The combination of a crash landing, dehydration, and rescue by potentially hostile aliens had to be nerve-wracking. Now that they were apparently grazing, the smugglers and I could relax too.
“Alys, you said you’d just arrived too, right?” Millari asked. “Where are you from?”
I thought carefully before replying. “It’s . . . complicated. Let’s just say we’re not from this galaxy and leave it at that.”
“Where’s your ship, then? It should be visible from here.”
“Our ships are much smaller than yours.” I sighed and sat down. It was good to breathe fresh air again. “Maybe I’ll show you mine when your friends recover.”
“I just want to rest now.”
“Same here.”
Nilsa and her crew slept in their ship that night, but I secured mine as best I could and set up my tent in the Vellinari’s herd, for lack of a better term. They told me it would take a couple of days for their injured to heal. I mingled among them until then and returned with the Dusk Gryphon. They took it for a simple shuttle. When I explained that it was capable of faster-than-light travel, they didn’t believe me. I had to take Millari and some of her fellow biologists on a trip home-their home-to prove it. I also had to explain why we weren’t showing the Dusk Gryphon to the homeworld. That saddened them.
So Millari and the rest of her detachment decided to stay on the world where they crash landed. They were going to colonize it anyway. Although they were the only survivors-the smugglers and I didn’t reach the others before dehydration killed them-we found enough supplies and droids from the ship’s wreckage to get them started. They’re still skittish. I think they’ll recover eventually.
As for me, Nilsa, and her crew? They think we’re heroes, despite our shortage of legs and our nasty tendency to eat other sentient beings. We’re part of the colony now. Nilsa and the others aren’t around that much. They’re continuing their exploration of this galaxy, and she definitely plans to use the Silent Sun’s hyperdrive to her advantage. She and her crew are going to get themselves killed someday.
I’m sticking closer to this world, which the Vellinari call Prille. I was risking death and worse on a regular basis. For now, just exploring this world and hunting its wildlife are good enough for me. I’m also training the Vellinari in marksmanship. It’s a bit touch and go, but they’re learning nicely. They even helped me construct a house and set up a generator for it. Maybe when the Vellinari are settled in, I’ll rein in Nilsa and her crew. We can start that project to spread hyperdrives to this galaxy then. I’m sure Millari and the others will want to help. They’re scientists, after all. I can’t see them turning down the opportunity to explore the galaxy. Maybe they can even start a multi-system federation, or even a republic.
Don’t get me wrong, though. Colony building is fun, but I miss traveling with Kira and the others. It’s the funniest thing: I’ve realized I feel the most alive only when I’m taking deadly risks. And Force knows that bunch seemed to attract them. What am I going to do when I get bored now? It’s going to happen. Since there’s little chance of, say, Sith or hostile aliens attacking, I’ll have no choice but to leave and seek trouble elsewhere. I wish my former companions had equivalents in this universe.
Come to think of it, if this is an alternate universe, where is my other self? I did wind up in my ship, after all. Is she with them? I hope she hasn’t gotten herself killed, or sold anyone into slavery. I wouldn’t blame Kira and the others if they decided to keep her and not find me. What I did was definitely betrayal on some level. And that’s if it didn’t lead to them entering a situation where they got killed or worse, turned to the Dark Side.
Oh, who am I kidding. The Force probably thinks they’re too amusing to kill. I’m sure they’re getting into mayhem and irritating the Sith just fine without me. But I swear, if they’ve managed to destroy the galaxy and I find out, I’m going to find some way to get back at them. I don’t care what I need to do. For now, though, this Vellinari quiche is delicious.
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