We continue the story at the tundra base, as Elder Pjang-Nich explains why Maria and Lah-Shah have been called to the distant base.
Chapter 4 – Pjang-Nich explains
Pjang-Nich whistled, a light-screen appeared above the table. A star map lit up on the screen, tool tips showing their location and the location of their target. It was some distance across the galaxy but still easily done with the jump gate system. Pjang-Nich clicked her tongue a couple of times, the screen shifted and zoomed in on the target system.
A star, bigger, older, redder than Ascend’s star, surrounded by two rocky planets and two gas giants. The rocky planets orbited each other. The first gas giant orbited close to the star, while the second gas giant seemed to be nearer to the star than expected, with dozens of moons, squeezing the rocky planets between them.
“This is the Pandora system; humans have settled the rocky planets. They’re mining, or at least planning to mine, the moons of planet four.”
Planet two lit up.
“This is where we sent a team. The humans have been building a processing plant.”
Planet three lit up, “And this is where they’re building a prison camp. As far as we know there are no sentient species in the Pandora system.”
“As far as we know?” Maria asked.
“Yes, that’s why you’re here. The team we sent has disappeared.” Pjang-Nich, frustrated by the interruption, snarled.
“Who did you send?”
“It’s not important, Junior.” Shut up, child and let me tell you, Pjang-Nich thought.
“Were any of them human? Any other sort of sentient would stand out like a sore thumb if this is a human colony.”
Lah-Shah clacked his teeth at Maria. In a series of clicks and snarls, he said, “Elder, please, it’s important, and they’ll just keep asking if you don’t tell them.”
Pjang-Nich sighed, responding, “The child is a nuisance, why do you tolerate them?”
“They have insight -”
“Look, you two, I know you’re talking about me.” Maria interrupted, “Can we just get on with this briefing.”
Pjang-Nich click-clacked at the impudent human, then shook dran head. Forcing composure, dran focused on the screen again.
“This planet has been assessed by the Geological Survey teams and an early Ecological Survey team, and they don’t think there’s any sentient life. However, our Assessment Team overseeing the human settlement had some concerns about a potentially sentient species on the other rocky planet.”
“Prison planet or processing planet? Do they have names, it’d be easier if they had names.”
“Not officially. The processing plant is on planet two, the prison is on planet three, got that?”
“Yup, and the assessment team went to planet two and found no sentient life, but they think there’s a sentient species on planet three, the prison planet?”
“That’s correct.” Pjang-Nich sighed. It’d be easier just to give all the information to Lah-Shah and have dran explain to the human in flight. But humans were part of the Alliance now, so dray’d better learn to work with them, dray supposed. Pjang-Nich decided to try again.
“The human settlers on planet two have been transporting potentially sentient species from planet three to planet two, to help with building the processing plant and settlement there. They’re already using them on planet three to build the prison.”
“On their own?”
“No, with human prisoners. The potentially sentient species are a bovid-like creature. I believe the humans are referring to the species as alien-aurochs.”
“What is an aurochs? Something from your mythology?” Lah-Shah asked Maria.
“No, big cow-beastie, extinct thousands of years ago, but some of our domestic bovines are related to them. They were big beasts with huge horns.”
“Yes, well, humans have decided that the species that by convergent evolution looks like their ancestral cows must be a dumb beast of burden.”
“Oh right. Yeah, we do stupid stuff like that. So, who did you send to assess for sentience and oversee the settlement building?”
The Junior really would not stop asking. Pjang-Nich flicked dran ears at Lah-Shah who was silently laughing at dran frustration. Blowing a small plume out of dran left nostril, Pjang-Nich looked at Maria, before changing the screen away from the star map to a series of faces and data points.
Maria nodded, “I know Sellia, she was in my mind-speech class at the Academy.”
Pjang-Nich knew Sellia too; she was from a small system, where the major sentient species were small, quadrupedal, and hairy. They also had extensive histories and invented some of the jump gate technology. Sellia was from an important clan, and the pressure to find her was the only reason Pjang-Nich had brought Lah-Shah and his Junior into this mission.
“Did you know dran well?”
“What? Oh, no, not really. She didn’t like me very much, I don’t think. I said she looked like a fox the first time we met and after that she stopped talking to me.
Pjang-Nich was puzzled, what was a fox? Some silly Earth creature or myth, probably. How insulting!
Lah-Shah broke into Pjang-Nich’s musings with a barked laugh.
“What?”
“I’m sorry Elder, I think I’ve just worked out why Sellia would be insulted. ‘fox’ in Medlish sounds like ‘fauxs’ in Pihine.”
“Oh, of course. Sellia probably didn’t speak very good Medlish when you were both students. That makes sense. I assure you, dran has excellent Medlish now, it was necessary for the Assessment Team.”
“What does fox mean in Pihine?” Maria asked, obviously confused. Humans didn’t have so much variation in their skin, nor any control over it, unlike dran’s own species which spoke in colour and tone, but the tone of Maria’s voice was clear enough.
“A two-face politician. With bad hair.” Lah-Shah said before Pjang-Nich could give a full explanation.
“It’s all in the tone and ear flick.” Pjang-Nich added, feeling humour for the first time since dran’s prodigy and human pet had arrived.
“Oh, I see. Well, I didn’t mean to call her that. When did you last hear from the assessment team?”
Pjang-Nich almost got whiplash from the sudden return to business. Dran cleared drans throat and continued.
“They should have reported in a month ago, but we haven’t heard anything from them. The humans in the system are part of a corporation, if there are sentients in the system they’ll lose their trading license.”
“Is it a particularly rich system?”
“Only in metals humans are fond of. It’s an old system. The planet with the processing plant is rocky desert for the most part, although there’s some small seas and vegetation around the seas, good atmosphere for humans, lots of oxygen. The ‘alien-aurochs’’ planet is more vegetative, with a planetary ocean. But the atmosphere isn’t great for humans. Too acidic.” Pjang-Nich reeled it off from memory.
“Why are they putting a prison settlement on a planet that is dangerous to humans?” Maria asked.
Dran can’t be that dense, surely?
“Because, Junior, humans are perfidious, and their corporations are less trustworthy than the generality of humanity.”
“Thanks!” Maria’s tone was ambiguous to Pjang-Nich, but dran tentatively placed it as grateful.
“Of course, you should know this already. Now, I want you to go to the planet, find out what is happening and where my team has gone.”
“Is that all? You could have sent a packet with that information.”
“Junior, I do not like your tone.” Pjang-Nich felt dran’s patience draining once again. “This is a sensitive mission. Five assessors have disappeared in the first independent human settlement outside of your home system; think of the consequences, not just for the Assessment Team, but also for human-IGASS trust.” Pjang-Nich felt dran wings unfurl slightly, making dran seem larger, impressing the importance of the mission on Maria.
“You don’t trust us anyway!”
The outburst wasn’t unexpected, but Pjang-Nich was still shocked, feeling dranself fading to pale green and the emotion flooded dran system. Pjang-Nich’s delicate ears curled inwards, blocking the sudden loud shout. That was it, dran was done with this meeting. Pajng-Nich turned smartly on dran heels and marched out of the room.
For all of the chapter see this page.
Everything Is Better With Dragons 