Universe Between Read online

  OK, he thought, we can play it that way. And he dove in to chase her around the pool. The tail gave her speed, but the pool was small enough that he could fake her out and sometimes tag her. At last, they pulled out on the edge of the pool. Dayexi heaved, spitting out water, then took a ragged breath of air.

  She pushed her hair out of her eyes and turned to Blake. “Well, Doctor, what do you think of Risonian anatomy now?”

  Without thinking, Blake bent and kissed her. And she slapped his face.

  Then, she dove again, kicking hard toward the bottom.

  Blake’s face flushed and he gripped pool’s edge. What had come over him? Why had he kissed those cool, soft lips? He had never done anything like that before, in fact, had always avoided personal entanglements of any kind. With a gulp, he realized he had probably ruined his career and maybe endangered this whole mission.

  Dayexi surfaced and held out something that glowed.

  A peace offering?

  Hesitant, hopeful, Blake took the glowing object, a glass globe. Turning it over and over in his hands, it glowed even brighter. Clinging to the glass walls were the long legs of a starfish, dark burgundy, almost black, except for the yellow tips.

  Dayexi pulled out beside him and spoke quietly. “The globe is a small ecosystem, a self-contained aquarium, with one inhabitant. We call the starfish, umjaadi, which translated means glowing star. A Glow Star, and it can live for years in a globe like this. When you shake it, the umjaadi releases a chemical that glows.”

  Blake glanced over at her. In the dark room, she seemed to glow.

  “All the lights down there are Glow Stars,” she nodded to the bottom of the pool. “I still have one that my father bought for me at a tourist place when I was just ten.”

  “Thank you for all of this.” He gestured toward the pool, but he meant much more. It was a glimpse into Rison life that no one else on the Cadee Moon Base was getting. “And I’m sorry—”

  “Stop. Don’t say it.” Dayexi stood and grabbed a towel to leave. She touched his shoulder and whispered, “Keep the Glow Star. To remember what no one else must know.”

  Then, she was gone, leaving him to wonder what she thought of his kiss.

  The pool area was quiet, empty. If Dayexi was right, no one else would show up that evening. Blake laid the umjaadi globe carefully at the pool’s edge and slipped into the warm water. Holding onto the side, he took several deep breaths, then dove. This was too good a chance to pass up. They weren’t going to let humans step foot on Rison any time soon. But inside those globes was a tiny slice of the Rison ocean. And he intended to find out as much as he could about that ocean.

  ***

  The next weeks were packed with anatomical studies of Jack, Jasa and Dayexi Quad-de. Blake pored over reports, highlighting and analyzing how Rison anatomy differed from human anatomy. He assumed that Rison scientists were doing the same thing with their human volunteers.

  Evenings, he slipped away to swim or just visit with Dayexi and found himself looking forward to it more each day. He didn’t try to kiss her again, that would have been foolish. Instead, they talked. He explained swim meets and she described a tourist town on Rison; they watched an NBA basketball game on a big screen, then listened to what Blake described to Ivan later as a Rison opera. Ivan approved of the “cultural exchange,” and Blake was careful to frame each day’s report as just that, an exchange of culture. But he knew it was growing into something more. Did he love her? Could he love an alien? He only knew that this was—finally—a girl he would like to take back to Bainbridge Island and introduce to his parents.

  Meanwhile, the delegations continued to meet and discuss everything that wasn’t important. The Risonians were still holding back, still leaving something important unsaid. And then, finally, President Wellings asked for a formal meeting the next morning. “Please to invite all of your delegation,” the written invitation said.

  “This is it,” Ivan told Blake. “We’ll finally find out why they asked us to come.”

  The next morning, excited conversation and nervous laughter echoed throughout the conference room, Risonians on one side of the long table and Earthlings on the opposite. Behind the main negotiators camped support staff equipped with computers, bulging files, coffee cups for the Earthlings, and verki cups for the Risonians.

  Blake sat directly behind Surgeon General Ivan, who sat next to Ambassador Rodriguez. She was old, probably 50 or even 60 years old, and her skin looked like it had been tanned and preserved. But her brown eyes were keen and sharp and her hair was still naturally dark. Blake liked and respected her negotiation skills. He just wished they knew what was coming today. He guessed they wanted to open trade, but they only wanted to come to Earth, they didn’t want humans on their planet. It would be an odd trading partnership, but it might work, if Rison had something that humans wanted.

  Almost across the table were President Wellings and Ambassador Saboo, supported by Swann Quad-de, Dayexi’s cousin, who wore a perpetual scowl. Whatever was about to happen, he didn’t approve.

  President Wellings was a handsome Risonian man in the dress-blues, but a muscle twitched in his face and his eyes blinked in a strange syncopation, something Blake had learned to identify as nervousness. Ivan was right: the Risonians were going to explain why they had summoned humans to this meeting.

  “Ladies and gentlemen…” Welling’s English was perfect and Blake didn’t think it was a computer translator.

  Blake leaned forward to listen more intently.

  President Wellings continued, “I need to give you a short history of our planet. Rison is a young planet, only a million years old or so.”

  Blake leaned back and almost tuned out the geology lesson. But there was an undertone, something in Wellings’ voice, a tension.

  “We’d like to show you a video from earlier this year.”

  Ambassador Rodriguez nodded. If Blake was only halfway listening, Rodriguez was all business, watching everything intently. With a photographic memory, she was the perfect person to be an ambassador because she never forgot anything.

  A screen lowered at the end of the room and the lights dimmed. Then, they all watched a video of a volcano.

  Blake was disappointed. It was just a volcano, like any volcano on Earth. A river of red-hot lava slipping into the sea with a sizzle.

  President Wellings cleared his throat and began his speech, starting slow, but building in volume and speed. “Our planet has always been dotted with volcanoes. But sixty years ago, scientists began to fear that the volcanoes were worsening. It was hard to study volcanoes, harder to mass enough data to be certain, harder still to gain a consensus among our scientists. But they all agree now that Rison is in danger.”

  “Earth also has volcanoes.” Ambassador Rodriguez voice held an unspoken question.

  “Yes, of course.” President Wellings clasped his hands in front of him on the table. “But our volcanoes have been increasing in frequency, duration and intensity.”

  Blake had a sudden thought and glanced over the Earthling officers in the room. Because Rison had specifically requested medical personnel, they were mostly doctors, comparative biologists and such. He saw an astronomer and a physicist—but no geologists; they had been bumped by more important personnel. At every turn, the Risonians had manipulated them and their team. What was going on?

  “Our scientists—” Now, President Wellings hesitated. “—experimented.” The word was barely audible. He cleared his throat and tugged a wrinkle out of his blue jacket. “We thought we could control the volcanoes and stabilize Rison’s core.”

  “How?” demanded Ambassador Rodriguez.

  “Brown matter.”

  Earth’s side of the room erupted in angry voices. Rodriguez stood and motioned for quiet. “You used brown matter on your volcanoes? How? Why? When?”

  Wellings stood also, facing the Earth Ambassador. “Those experiments were fifty years ago. We are willing to give you those details, as long
as they remain confidential. But I must explain the results of those experiments. Our planet is dying. We expect that sometime within the next ten or twenty years, the core will become so unstable that it will implode.”

  Rodriguez just stared, her eyes flashing. “And?”

  Wellings swallowed hard. “And, we are asking for help.”

  “Then, why in the hell didn’t you ask for geologists or planetologists to accompany our team?” Blake demanded.

  Deliberately, Wellings sat and nodded to his technician. Behind him, Swann Quad-de’s face was distorted in a scowl; he definitely disagreed with what was about to happen. A new video came up.

  Two planets floated in dark space, side by side, Earth and Rison. A smooth voice—they must have hired an Earth narrator for this!—described the similarities: both covered with water. And the differences: On Earth, most people lived on land, while on Rison, most lived in the water. It made sense, the narrator said, for Earth to extend a helping hand and share their planet with a race that was struggling for survival. It would be easy: Risonians would live in the ocean and humans on land and they could all get along and live happily ever after on planet Earth.

  The video ended. It was a beauty of a sales and marketing job. But it left the room in total silence. The humans were silent, stunned. The Risonians were silent, proud yet desperate.

  ***

  Ivan paced Blake’s medical lab, stopping now and then to flip through another report on his tablet. “We need to give the Ambassador a recommendation today. The Risonians want to start the experimental colony, SeaStead within a year.”

  Blake carried Dayexi’s glow globe to the window, but his gaze was stayed on the globe in his hands. He turned it over and over, watching the bioluminescence leak from the starfish’s spiny legs until it filled the globe and the umjaadi was almost invisible.

  Blake hadn’t realized he was so selfish. He didn’t want to share his home world with another race. An only child, he had never shared a bedroom until he went to college and roomed with his best friend. He hadn’t known his friend was so filthy—gross stuff lurked under his bed. The next year Blake had a private room and barely talked to his old friend.

  But Blake didn’t want to be alone in the universe, either. The day that Earth made first contact with Rison, he was only five years old. But he remembered it. He had just come home from the pool with Easter, his mom. They met Sir, his father, at the late ferry from Seattle and they strolled across Bainbridge Island to their home while Sir and Easter talked. Easter went to the kitchen to start dinner, but Sir turned on the TV as usual. Maybe Blake didn’t really remember all that. But he did remember Sir calling Easter to watch TV, “Aliens! This is for real.”

  And Easter standing there, drying her hands on a kitchen towel and saying, “We aren’t alone in the universe.”

  He didn’t want to share, but he didn’t want to be alone in the universe, either. If Earth didn’t share its oceans with Rison, they would be alone again.

  The lab door flew open and Dayexi strode in, confident. “Blake? Where are you?”

  Dayexi’s smile, Ivan’s frown—they both registered.

  “Here,” Blake said.

  Dayexi almost skipped over to him and Blake wanted to pull her to his side, to kiss her happy face. But not with Ivan here.

  “Mother has asked you to come for dinner tonight,” Dayexi said. “Will you come?”

  “Dayexi, you remember the Surgeon General Ivan Baba?” Blake gestured toward the older man.

  “Oh, yes. Hello.” Dayexi reverted to formality.

  “Ms. Quad-de, good to see you,” Ivan murmured. He raised a bushy white eyebrow toward Blake. “Will you go to dinner with them?

  Dayexi said quickly, “Sir, we would be glad if you would join us, as well.”

  Ivan shook his head. “No. I think I’ll just send my top scientist instead.”

  She took that as an answer from them both. “Eight. Don’t be late or Mother will start without you.”

  Then the lab was suddenly empty again. Sterile.

  Ivan cleared his throat. “Glad to see you’ve made inroads with the Quad-de family.”

  “I did examine all three, you know.”

  “And that’s what I need to know. You’ve studied their anatomy; is there any reason why we should keep them off Earth? Can we let them begin a colony within the next year?”

  Yes, Blake had learned much about the alien anatomy over the last few weeks. But his comparative biology studies had just begun. For example, he hadn’t been able to study the Glow Star’s water because there was no safe environment in which to crack it open. For the trip home, the two extra globes were safely packed in sterile cases. Back in his lab on earth, he planned to drill through the glass, take samples and culture the water. If it was anything like Earth’s water, it would take a lifetime to study just a drop of Rison’s water. But Blake didn’t have a lifetime.

  Now, Ivan insisted on a recommendation, “Blake, is there anything in your anatomy studies that would make SeaStead a dangerous thing for us to allow?”

  And Blake answered truthfully, “My studies show an alien anatomy, but nothing that would hurt the Earth.”

  Ivan nodded. “Then I will approve the Risonian request for an experimental colony, for SeaStead.”

  Now, Blake looked up at Rison, the other blue marble of the universe. So similar, yet so different. And he lifted the ball of alien water until his vision was filled with the glowing globe beside the blue globe. He swallowed hard and wondered if they would rue this day. Because they were making a dangerous choice, one they would have to live with, one that would likely change the course of human history. But he didn’t see how he could choose otherwise.

  He turned from the window and whistled as he went to his quarters to dress for dinner with the Quad-de family. And a deep gratitude filled him: with Dayexi at his side, he was no longer alone in the universe.

  Introduction to “Unsubscribe”

  Do not take the title of Phaedra Weldon’s wonderful story as a suggestion. We’d love you all to subscribe to Fiction River. But the requests for subscriptions via e-mail inspired this rather dark tale of future tech.

  Besides, future issues of Fiction River will include more Phaedra Weldon stories. If you can’t wait for those, then pick up her urban fantasy series, Zoë Martinique Investigations, or one of its three spin-off series. She also writes House Wyndham Vampires, a young adult series (the most recent title is Half Light), and a new mystery series, the Devan McNally Files (the first book is called The Haunted Bones).

  Maybe, just maybe, someday you’ll be able to subscribe to all her books. Or maybe not.

  Unsubscribe

  Phaedra Weldon

  1

  Brad Navaro ran his fingers through his short, stiff product-dried hair. The monitor cast his face in deep shadow, which added to the eerie mood set by a dozen lit candles. A burst of electrical light blossomed on his right when his girlfriend opened the refrigerator door.

  “You seriously need to upgrade the delivery subscription in this fridge.”

  “I already blew through the day’s General Illumination subscription. You think I can afford to upgrade from basic on the fridge?” The apartment lights would come back online in twelve hours. “Besides, I can shop. Don’t have to have everything delivered.” Brad glanced at her and smiled at his view of her round backside as she bent in front of the fridge.

  He was lucky the computer wasn’t his on a subscription basis. Computers were a Resident right of the dorms, provided with the rental. Same as net access. Every house, hovel, condo and cardboard box on the planet had a net connection.

  It was the way the world stayed connected to everything in everyone’s day.

  Connection was guaranteed. Just like air and food.

  What wasn’t was the content, or the quality of meals. For a year, Brad had been saving for an upgrade to a six-month restaurant subscription. He also had enough for a month’s communication subscr
iption. He hadn’t talked to his dad in three years—neither of them could afford the overseas non-subscribe rates.

  This was the longest he’d gone between calls. He hoped his dad was still alive. His mail was spotty and not always up to date because he was behind on his own upgrades.

  Tonight was the night to spend that money. Eat like the better subscribed for a half year and finally see his dad’s face. Video was extra—but worth it.

  “So…” his girlfriend’s shadow pressed against his shoulder. “Why are you staring at that Channel page?”

  Brad shrugged. “I was looking for something about the commercials.”

  “Commercials?” She pulled a chair up from the table by the kitchen counter. “Brad—most people are curious about the channel and its programing. Not the commercials.”

  “I know that. But commercials are tailored for specific channels.”

  “Well…yeah? Every kindergartener knows that. Food channels have food commercials. Hygiene channels carry body cleaning products. Style channels broadcast clothing—” When she paused she punched his shoulder. “You’re thinking of subscribing for commercials?”

  Yeah…it sounded pretty lame to him too.

  “Brad…commercials are there for bathroom breaks and food runs. Not for enjoyment. Those are those spaces between that make the channel lords feel better.”

  “I know the old nursery rhymes, Dot.” He gestured to the screen. “But everyone at work is talking about this particular series of commercials that’re only available on this channel.”

  “What’re they advertising?”

  He licked his lips. “I don’t know.”

  She looked at him. “You don’t know what they’re about—but you’re seriously thinking of subscribing to a premium channel for them? Brad? Have you finally lost it?”

  “No…” Unfortunately that single word came out like a whine. “Look, everyone is talking about them.”