05: Exploring an Alien World

II: Arrival at Tandor

Be careful what you wish for, you may receive it.

W. W. Jacobs

One never reaches home,
but wherever friendly paths intersect
the whole world looks like home for a time.

Hermann Hesse

“Pardon me,” a creature who looked like a heavy-set stork said, after they were awarded their Tandorian equivalent of a green card and the three judges paraded out. “My name is Siluzz. I’ve been assigned to escort you back to your quarters to collect your supplies, and then down to the surface.”

Siluzz was an odd-bird. Much like a stork, she had long thin legs and neck, a mostly roundish body and wide wings. She was certainly not a bipedal species. Although her legs were sturdier than an Earthly stork’s, they wouldn’t carry her for a long walk—or even a short run. They were more apt for crossing a muddy swamp on her home world. Thus, every so often she’d unfold her wings, flap a few times to fly a short distance to relieve her legs and catch up with the faster humans before landing and walking again.

“That was fast,” Eli observed, as they all stood.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say they planned this response all along,” Gary suggested, arching his brow.

As they followed Siluzz out of the Immigration courtroom, the team discussed this strange turn of events among themselves, again utilizing Zita’s link. ‘That was a huge gamble, Al, ‘ Lamar said. ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure how long I can do an Australian Crawl in outer space. Something tells me I wouldn’t last eighty light years.‘

Betty and Xi hugged Al’s arms. “He’d never abandon us, no matter what.”

‘While I’d certainly try to avoid it, in this case, there wasn’t much choice. Everything I said was true, everyone is better off with us together, but conversely, alone, none of us stand a chance.‘

‘I’m not buying it, ‘ Gary quipped. ‘You’re too modest. You’d have done fine on your own without us.‘

‘I agree, ‘ Delilah added.

‘Alas, it’s not so straightforward. Without Zita, we no longer have our secure communications. Without Xi, there’s no one to ensure the authorities can’t read whatever they want from our nanobots. I’m pretty good at anticipating trouble, but without Gary and Del, I couldn’t hope to protect the rest of you.‘

‘You aren’t bad at defending yourself, ‘ Gary quipped.

‘Only in the short term, and mostly because I had the element of surprise.‘

‘You still stuck up for the rest of us, ‘ Kaci said, reinforcing the other’s opinions.

‘Not quite, without the rest of you, I wouldn’t survive long once we engage the Zssizliq.‘

‘Good point, ‘ Betty said, ‘though I’ve got to say, the first time they mentioned the name, it made my skin crawl.‘

‘The name alone sounds like a huge swarm of cockroaches crawling over your flesh, ‘ Zita said, shivering.

‘I imagine it’s more a derogatory name, ‘ Eli said. ‘After all, most names are defined long before the enemy reports their own name.‘

‘I don’t know, ‘ Etta countered. ‘Since they’re supposedly an evolved form of insect species, it’s not the type of name anyone else would invent.‘

‘Which still doesn’t make it a representative name.‘ Eli reminded her. ‘Need I remind you, none of the American Indians were from India, yet we still continue to call them Indians.‘

‘I’m interested in learning more about them, ‘ Al said, ‘especially since everyone thinks we can somehow counter their abilities. But now’s not the time.‘

“So what happens when they realize we don’t have any magical skills?‘ Betty asked. ‘Without our magic beans, how will we climb out of our next abyss?‘

‘I’ve got a rough plan, but it requires each of you, and a hell of a lot of work by all of us.‘

‘Care to expand on that?‘

‘Not particularly. As they intimated, I think we’re better off keeping the information private for now. Since Xi’s always with me, I’m fairly safe from unintentionally revealing anything, but it wouldn’t take much for someone to isolate one of you and do a scan of your aids. What I’m considering would land us all in front of a military tribunal for high treason. You’re better off, at the moment, not knowing.‘

‘Yet that won’t stop you from pursuing it anyway,’ Gary argued.

‘At the moment, it’s our only strategy going forward. We’ll never survive without a few tricks up our sleeves, but if our cards are exposed, we’ll never get the opportunity to play them.‘

‘I’ll go along with that, ‘ Lamar said, slapping him on the back, ‘but only because you’ve never steered us wrong. And despite your protests, I’m sure you wouldn’t have abandoned us even if you didn’t need us all.“

‘Not intentionally, at least.‘

Siluzz showed them their suite of rooms, each of which contained their packed bags, including a few they hadn’t carried onboard, but The One wasn’t among them.

‘Uh, Siluzz, we’re expecting another parcel to arrive in the next few days, is there any chance we can get it transported to wherever we’re going to be staying?”

“I can always deliver it to you. After all, you’re going to be extremely busy for the next few months.”

“Except, this parcel is quite heavy.” Al glanced at the tiny birdlike creature.

“Not a problem,” she said as she held out her hand and a small cart exited from a small broom closet, approaching their bags. “If I can’t lift them, all I need is someone to deposit them on the tram, and I’m good to go.”

“Well I’ll be damned,” Be said. “What a great invention.”

“You must really come from the sticks,” Siluzz said, glancing at her. “Hell, we even have these in the swamps back home. We’d never have advanced if we couldn’t carry anything across the mud.”

They went from one room to another, depositing their gear on the single tram.

“What is all this crap?” Theo asked. “I don’t remember any of this shit.”

Al pointed at several bags. “The big bags are what they saved of our native species. The smaller, heavier one is mostly preserved seeds, while the others are carefully packaged living plants, so be careful not to jostle them.”

“What the hell are we going to do with them? It didn’t sound like anyone here cares about exotic plant life.” Xi turned to Al. “Or were they playing us again?”

“I doubt it in the current environment. There’s little demand or cash reserves to support such exotic treats. But it’s essential we save them, for our own future needs if nothing else. These difficult times won’t last forever, and when they lift, the demand will return. Even so, we’ll need to keep the living plants alive, so they’ll continue to grow and eventually fruit. While no one is likely to pay us for them, it’ll help alleviate the hard-to-chew and digest meals we’ve encountered so far.”

“Oh, you just need to ask,” Siluzz suggested. “We have a wide variety of foodstuffs. For example, I mainly eat seeds and soft fish, since I have no teeth. There are plenty of alternatives.”

“The good judge Licthicium didn’t seem terribly receptive,” Kaci argued, “nor was anyone else in the cafeteria.”

“Well, I’m here to help you find your way for the next few days, at least. I’ll identify what you can most easily consume. Taste is another matter entirely. With no one left to manage the farm drones, production is down everywhere, even with our dramatically reduced population. About the only thing left are staples, as the well-to-do hog anything with any flavor.”

“Maybe they’d appreciate a guava?” Xi suggested.

“I’m sure they would, but with the economy as bad as it is, and all resources and distribution controlled by the military, you won’t get much for it. You may be able to trade for it, assuming anyone has something you need, but they’re unlikely to trade what they live off for something they don’t trust.”

“So much for that idea,” Ivan concluded. “I’m guessing this isn’t the exotic destination we were hoping for.

Siluzz gave a short laugh, or at least what they assumed was one. “We’ve been at war since my great-great-grandparents were young. There’s little left to entertain yourself with. Even book discs are prohibitively expensive, as the military controls their distribution and they commandeered every disc in our libraries for their own uses.”

“That doesn’t sound very encouraging,” Gary groused as he tried to pull the floating tram. It didn’t budge.

Siluzz giggled, a sound easier to identify than her laugh, and waved her hand and turned, the tram following her as she walked. “You guy’s sure don’t know nuthin’!”

They were soon processed, granted new identity IDs—stored by their aids, which was problematic until they demonstrated they were indeed functioning correctly—and signed various forms. Their identities were confirmed via a skin prick. It seemed the Tandorians’ didn’t rely on crude and easily faked methods such as fingerprints or retinal scans. With a cellular test, they could check their individual DNA, even identifying identical twins by examining each one’s antibodies. After they were processed, they were led down yet another hallway and entered a closed chamber. Glancing around, the crew assumed it was an elevator, since they saw no connecting doors. As it descended, and the metal surrounding the section they were in slid past, they realized they were once again aboard the shuttle, only the view was much more pronounced as they approached, revealing more of their new world.

Everyone clustered around the transparent circular wall, pointing out new features they couldn’t observe before, while Siluzz chuckled at their naïveté. The world was not only more vast than they suspected, it was covered with tightly-packed buildings, with very few wild, undeveloped areas. It seemed few native forests remained, and there weren’t many residential, suburban neighborhoods or small towns anywhere. Instead, all they could see was one cityscape as far as their eyes could see, which given their perspective, was an incredible amount of space. This was a true example of an advanced civilization.

The same spacecraft they’d seen circling the planet were still visible, though most were over their heads. Only a few ventured lower, though they could see small craft hovering above the surface as they zipped past. Apparently, flying cars were finally a reality.

However, the lower the shuttle descended, the more they noticed. First of all, this wasn’t a traditional ‘modern city’, consisting of gleaming steel, polished glass and marble finishes—or even the Tandorian equivalents. Instead, nothing appeared to be newly constructed. The surfaces, whatever they consisted of, were mottled, marked and decaying. There were noticeable structural problems, even from this distance. Given their nature, the damage didn’t appear to be the result of attacks or combat, but just the results of chronic neglect.

“Has Tandor ever been attacked?” Betty asked, voicing the question bothering everyone.

“The Tandorian Empire has, but not the Empire’s homeworld,” Siluzz explained.

“Then how do you account for the state of so much of your city?”

Siluzz shrugged. “We’ve been at war for a long time. All our resources go towards patching our combat fleet as best we can so they can head back to the front. Since there are so few of us remaining here, there’s little use in investing needed expenses to beautify the city.”

“Until a building collapses, or something falls killing civilians and requiring even more to clean up,” Ivan pointed out. Since it was his job repairing equipment, he knew the value of maintenance.

“It happens often. In each case, we lament the dead, brush the debris aside, and continue. We can hardly complain about a few deaths when millions have died in combat. If any building becomes too dangerous, they’re simply abandoned, their residents and operations shifted to other unoccupied buildings. Our population is only a fraction of what it once was, so it doesn’t make financial sense keeping all the buildings operational. Emptying them reduces the burden of keeping them operational.”

“What happens if a building collapses, or the Shuttle itself tumbles over?” Mui asked. “That alone would wipe out tens of thousands.”

“Millions,” Siluzz corrected. “Of all the structures on Tandor, the Shuttle is our highest priority, as our ship-repair facilities depend on it. The residential structures have a much lower priority.”

“What would happen if the Zssizliq attacked, targeting the Shuttle?” Al asked.

“So far, Tandor has never been attacked, thank the gods.”

“Why do you suppose that is?” Gary asked. “I’d think it would be a sensible target, regardless of the potential cost. An attack on the Empire’s homeworld would be tremendously dispiriting.”

She shrugged again, causing her feathers to shimmer. “I guess they’ve never located our homeworld yet.”

“I suspected there hadn’t been an attack, but we’re discussing a hostile alien race capable of reading the minds of our best men enclosed within secure space ships during active combat. How could they not know its location?”

Siluzz glanced at them, eventually shrugging once again.

“Have any of the Tandorian home worlds been attacked?” Al pressed.

Siluzz pursed her beak—an interesting phenomenon which Etta noted, never having witnessed it before. “Not as far as I’m aware.”

“Yet you’ve been at war for hundreds of years? I find that hard to believe.”

“Are you questioning our resolve? The wisdom of our generals? The capabilities of our Emperor? Always remember, the Zssizliq attack us every chance they get. They leave no one alive. They are unrelenting. The only reason they haven’t attacked is we keep pushing them, keeping them far enough away they can’t inflict such substantial damage.”

“Given that your battles have been going so badly, and supposedly the Zssizliq are unrelenting and so numerous you can’t counter their superior forces, I find it difficult to accept. If they were so uncompromising, surely they’d attempt to end the war as quickly as possible, especially now when you’re so far behind in personnel and armaments.”

“Our fleet has been whittled down after years of prolonged combat, but so has theirs,” Siluzz argued, looking noticeably upset by the implications. “They don’t seek out our home worlds because they know we’ll fight to our last citizen. They aren’t foolish enough to risk complete annihilation!”

“I’m sure you’re right,” Al said, turning and staring out at the surface of Tandor again. “After all, you’re certainly doing a bang-up job of it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? You realize I should report you for insubordination and potential rebellion don’t you?”

“Pardon me, but we’re not natives, and for us, this war is completely new. We’re just trying to understand what’s at stake. I just don’t comprehend the Zssizliq’s strategy.”

“Then you should leave those concerns to those who understand the situation better than you,” she insisted, scowling at him.

Betty reached out, holding his arm, applying pressure in a signal for him to cool it.

‘Al, what are you driving at?‘ Zita asked via their telepathic link. ‘I know you don’t want to admit it, especially since you’re provoking our guide, but what are you trying to establish? Surely you’re trying to prove some kind of point.‘

‘Exactly what I stated, ‘ Al told her, still staring out the window, ignoring their guide. ‘Something doesn’t make sense. It’s like the propaganda during World War II, where even Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig were extolling the utter destruction of Germany and Japan. There’s clearly more here than we’re being told. If they’re sending us into the heart of this combat, seeking to test us against their opponent’s fiercest fighters, we need to understand exactly what’s at stake.‘

Turning, Al tried once again, taking a slightly different tact. “I’m still unclear. What precipitated this whole war? Who attacked whom, and what was at stake? Is this a territorial conflict, is it over dominance or different points of view.”

Siluzz put her hands on her hips, a tricky operation for someone with such a large body and such gangly legs and arms. “When we first made contact, during an explorative expedition, they attacked without warning and sought to wipe out everyone in the entire endeavor. They then pursued them relentlessly, seeking out any Tandorian ship, or those of any race we’re connected with. The Zssizliq do not operate on any understandable basis. They’re ... disgusting insects who seek only to propagate and destroy!”

“Only, if they’re engaged in interplanetary space flight, they’re obviously much more than that. They may have started as mere insects, but I doubt they’re incapable of rational thought, otherwise they wouldn’t hesitate launching a direct assault against Tandor itself. That’s clearly a conscious decision, based upon an evaluation of the odds facing them, which they balance against the likelihood of success. We can hardly hope to defeat them if we don’t understand how they think.”

“It’s not your job to plan strategy! That’s the task of our generals. Since the Zssizliq can intercept our thoughts, our military can’t afford to trust our most sensitive intelligence to everyone heading to the front. Instead they issue orders, and we follow them!”

‘Al, you’re going to get us all in trouble before we ever set foot on the frickin’ planet!‘ Zita warned. ‘If you need the information so badly, Eli and I can do the research on our own.‘

“So essentially, no one in Tandor, aside from the very top-level generals and tacticians, have any clue what the war is being waged over? Tell me, do we even know their language? Can we communicate with them at all?”