Jack Campbell - Leviathan

The exercise had the desired effect of wearing him out, and Geary was able to sleep for a few hours until rudely awakened by a call from Tanya. “There is something you should take a look at,” she said. “Not urgent, but serious.”

“Show me.” The star display in Geary’s stateroom came to life. He got off his bunk and walked over to gaze at the images of this star system.

Desjani’s voice was somber. “Here. I’m highlighting it.”

He sat down as an area of the display brightened to emphasize details there. “Debris?”

“Yes. It took a while to spot it and analyze it because of how much junk is drifting around between those two stars. The interacting gravity fields must keep causing collisions between rocks jarred out of what would otherwise be stable orbits.”

Geary tapped the debris symbol and studied the information that popped up. “It wasn’t a warship?”

“No. Based on the composition of the debris, it wasn’t a freighter, either. There’s no sign of cargo or the remains of cargo.”

That left only one chilling possibility. “A passenger ship.”

“Yes.” Desjani made a face. “Maybe a regular shift change by the people who worked here. Maybe an attempt to get out of here when the dark ships slipped their leashes. From the dispersion of the debris, it happened about a month ago.”

“Is this the only debris field we’ve detected?”

“So far,” she said. “It’s still a few hours before we could expect any answer from anyone on the facilities and find out whether there is anyone left, and whether they’re scared to death, or whether they are so fixated on following orders that they are still prepared to fight to the death.”

“At the moment, I’m unhappy enough to let the Marines accommodate anyone here who wants to fight to the death,” Geary said. “Is there anything else new?”

“Not really new. I’ve been noticing something odd about the Dancers,” Desjani said.

“You mean something odd that we haven’t seen already?” Geary asked.

“All right, yes, something new that’s odd.” She indicated her display. “Normally, we get into a star system, and the Dancers start flying around, going wherever they want and flying rings around each other and any other ships. But ever since we arrived here, the Dancers have stayed in that formation and stayed close to us.”

“That is odd.” Geary looked at the Dancer ships on his display. They were still in their smaller cylindrical formation, and they were indeed maintaining the same position relative to the Alliance formation. He called down to the compartment holding the special comm equipment, patching in Desjani to the call. “Hello, General. We’ve got another question for you.”

“Thank you,” Charban said, sounding almost sincere.

“The Dancers have been staying close to us since arriving at Unity Alternate instead of running off and, well, dancing around the star system. Can you find out if they are nervous or something?”

“That’s interesting. The Dancers haven’t volunteered any such feelings, but that is unusual behavior for them,” Charban agreed. “I’ll ask. They did just offer something that I think refers to Invincible . The lieutenants and I were discussing it before sending it on.”

“They aren’t staking a claim to Invincible , are they?” Geary asked. “When we captured it, the Dancers agreed that the Kick warship would be our property.”

“No, it’s not a claim. Here’s what they sent—

“Herd creatures build big,

“Make ship the herd always there,

“To be not alone,” Charban recited.

“The herd always there?” Geary asked. “Are they saying there are still Kicks aboard that ship? How could that be possible? We went over every cubic centimeter inside that hull.”

“I don’t think it’s a reference to Kicks still being on Invincible ,” Charban said. “Lieutenant Iger noted the use of present tense, but also the clear reference to herd, which would mean a lot of Kicks. Unless they are physically buried in the structure of the hull, I don’t see how that could be.”

“Wait a minute.” Geary looked toward the depiction of Invincible , remembering his visit aboard her. “People do feel Kicks aboard that ship. I felt them. Like a herd of ghosts everywhere you went. It was incredibly unnerving. If you weren’t part of a large group of people, the sensation could become too much to endure. Even those Syndic special forces that tried to capture or destroy Invincible couldn’t handle it.”

Charban looked suddenly surprised. “To be not alone,” he quoted. “Admiral, it’s that simple. The ghosts are a deliberate design feature. However the Kicks manage to create that sensation, it ensures that no matter where any Kick was on that ship, even if they were the only Kick in that area, they would still feel as if they were surrounded by the herd.”

“You’re kidding.” But the more Geary thought about it, the more sense it made. “It’s not a defense against invaders. It’s a defense against isolation or loneliness for creatures that have to feel surrounded by their comrades at all times.”

“It’s strange, isn’t it?” Charban said. “Humans alone in a place can become worried about ghosts, can become frightened because they are alone, because we are also social creatures. Imagine how a Kick would feel, a creature raised to always be surrounded by its herd, if it were truly alone somewhere? We can understand that. It’s the first thing about the Kicks that we can both understand and empathize with.”

“It probably won’t be adequate grounds for peaceful coexistence,” Desjani pointed out.

“No,” Charban agreed. “It is hard to empathize too much with creatures who regard genocide of any potentially competing species as the natural order of things.”

“Especially since the Kicks appear to believe that just about every other species is competition,” Geary said. “You know, maybe the Dancers know something about Kick technology. They certainly know more about the Kicks than we do. Once we deal with the dark ships, maybe the Dancers can help us figure out how the gear works on Invincible .”

Charban made a face. “Rendering a technical manual into poetry is a challenge probably beyond our skill level, Admiral. At least, it has been so far. I don’t think we can successfully tackle something like The Ballad of the Resonating Quark or The Tuning of the Bipolar Oscillator. Perhaps a check of the fleet will find one of your engineers is an accomplished and talented songwriter. That’s who we will need for that job.”

“An engineer who is also a songwriter?” Desjani asked sarcastically. “That ought to be easy to find.”

“Not so hard as you might think, Captain,” Charban said. “There is an intimate connection between engineering and music. Think of designing or building a musical instrument. It is an exercise in engineering, in stresses and forces, in structures and materials, vibrations and resonances.”

“I never thought of it that way,” she confessed. “For now, I think you should focus on the Admiral’s question about whether the Dancers are nervous. Unity Alternate has me nervous. It’s too quiet here.”

“I agree,” Charban said. “I’m ground force, not space, but even I feel that this is going too easy.”

Sixteen hours after they had arrived at Unity Alternate, and with twenty-two hours to go before they reached the region where the orbiting facilities were located, a message arrived.

Geary watched a trim man in a nondescript suit speak with calm precision. “Your presence here is not authorized. You are directed to leave this star system immediately. Your act of trespass on official government property has already been recorded and will be forwarded to appropriate authorities for action. You are directed to say nothing about this star system until you are contacted by a duly authorized representative of the government. If you continue to approach these Alliance government facilities, which are off-limits to all unauthorized travelers, we will be forced to take any necessary actions, up to and including use of deadly force.”