All That Glitters Ch. 44

"This strategy session's primary purpose is to start the process of bringing the Maha-Rrin to the conference table with the Union and, ultimately, with the Greater Community," Fiona spoke. "The secondary objective is to get the Maha-Rrin and the Pod-Drran talking to each other with the stated objective of bringing the two halves of the people together to save the whole.

"To this end, we need to look at the successes and failures we had when dealing with the Pod-Drran and the initial meetings with the Interspecies Community and tailor that to help us with first contact with the Maha-Rrin.

"Contact shall be a little slower than with the Pod-Drran, as we are not under threat of attack from the Maha-Rrin. Dr. Hitron, your team's assessment of the Maha-Rrin?" Fiona directed the floor to Sylvia.

"We have noted that the Maha-Rrin do not appear to have offensive weapons on their ships. We classify them as essentially peaceful. Their language, though formed from the same base as the Pod-Drran, is significantly different from their cousins. The main reason for this is probably the isolation they have had from the Pod-Drran over the millennia. Languages on Terra are capable of significant shifts in only a hundred years, so it is no surprise that these two languages do not sound the same.

"The Maha-Rrin's home world is geologically very active. Their history indicates they have had quakes large enough to have significantly shaped the planet's surface for generations. This has caused their civilization to cyclically crash and rebuild over the millennia as they have suffered from the extremes of plate tectonics. Their current rise up the scale of civilization began some 460 years ago and has brought them to the level they now enjoy.

"According to their scientists, their planet is still a young world and the great continent is breaking apart and spreading out in similar fashion to what Pangea did on Terra millions of years ago. As they are essentially in an active part of this process, they are being hit with several extremely strong quakes every decade or so.

"They have a well-developed planetary communications net similar to that of the Pod-Drran when we first contacted them. That has helped us to explore their language, their culture, their science, and their history.

"Science-wise, they are more advanced than the Pod-Drran. Due mostly to the quakes, they still have issues with power generation as their major power plants have suffered continuous damage. The quakes have also damaged power distribution, even minor quakes can damage power lines to a point that it takes several months to repair them.

"While they are more advanced than the Pod-Drran scientifically, their labs suffer from damage on a regular basis. Due to this, their labs are spread out all over their planet to avoid the total destruction of their scientific capability. Understandably, most of their science is geared toward the mitigation of quake damage.

"They do not have very many tall buildings, and large buildings are built in sections to mitigate damage to the whole. Even so, when you are dealing with Richter Scale nine or more quakes every decade or so, the damage that can be created is often devastating. It is not unusual to have large cities founded and completely destroyed within the space of a couple of generations. To date, the longest history of an intact city is just over 120 years. Most, do not remain intact for more than thirty to fifty years.

"Cities tend to be widely spread out as there are few buildings higher than five stories. Most homes are of one level with no basement. Emergency departments do not house their vehicles inside buildings, leaving them open to the weather. All their emergency vehicles are all-wheel drive or air transports.

"The Maha-Rrin have now developed solar power to a point that it is a useful tool for their citizens to make up for the power distribution problems. This will help improve their quality of life considerably over the next few decades.

"They have a well-developed industrial complex that allows them to build almost anything they desire. The damage to these structures is mitigated by their being of a small size compared to Pop-Drran industry or Human industry. Small or not, the Maha-Rrin can produce amazingly elaborate items from these factories.

"The Maha-Rrin have a semi-elected head of government, who is chosen from within the science guilds, which has lead to tensions from the non-science guilds as there are forty-seven guilds, and eleven science guilds.

"The people do not vote in elections, only the guilds. Only registered members of a guild are allowed to vote and only within their guild. A guild provides only one vote. There are eleven science guilds, which means there are eleven votes for the system.

"The ruler, who they call 'The Pemipinae or Pemipinoe', dependent on the gender, rules for life, or until they are unseated because they have abused their powers or failed to support the people. Maha-Rrin history shows that the proverbial angry mob has ousted more than one supreme ruler.

"One of the things that we have been looking for on the information channels is anything dealing with abnormalities in births. There are a lot of them, and the Maha-Rrin have speculated that it could be because of inbreeding, though they do not call it that. Their words for it translate as an 'insufficient DNA spread'," Sylvia finished.

"That is actually a clever way to refer to it," Kayl-Ur noted.

"How should we approach them, then?" Fiona asked.

"I think the method we used with the Pod-Drran would work well with them, only we should send the invitation directly to their home world. We put out a FTL Comms Probe with the same message until we get a reaction from them," Junelliya suggested.

"What would you say in this message?" Fiona wanted to know.

"I would say that the Pod-Drran have been contacted and are now members of the Greater Society," Junelliya began, "who we can help with many of the problems that the Maha-Rrin currently have, including improved power supplies, constructing better buildings more suitable to strong quake zones, and have a possible solution to the problem of insufficient DNA. Though I wouldn't put all of that in one message.

"Once we have a reaction from them, we can include more information," Junelliya recommended.

The banter went back and forth until the Pod-Drran and the strategy team were happy with the first contact wording.

"That is an impressive message," Fayad said at the end. "Do you think it will sway them?"

"They have been aware of our probes for some time," Sylvia answered. "From what the Comms Probes have captured on their daily news nets, they have figured out that the power spike they see, when it enters or leaves their system, indicates an FTL event. That should intrigue them as scientists if nothing else. Imagine knowing that there are species out there capable of FTL travel and that their sister species has access to that...I wouldn't be surprised if they nibble at the bait."

"We shall send this first message the day before the expected visit by the Asoc. I want two other messages prepared to send via Comms Probe in the event they do not respond. If they respond with curiosity, we will tailor further messages based on their comments.

"Further contacts will be based on how things play out. If they respond positively, we can send Nar-Tre, Kayl-Ur, Hend-Ur, and the contact ambassadors in The Valour for a first contact. Questions?" Fiona demanded. There were none. The message went out two days later. It had some interesting results.

Varnala Orbital Station, Maha-Rrin Home World, Eighteen Light Years from the Piscium System

Sha-Halda was bored. Everyday the same damn thing. A Comms Tech on Varnala, an orbital communications station, Sha-Halda was three weeks into her two month term of service in orbit and already the monotony was wreaking havoc on her happiness.

If only there was an adequate male on this trip, she thought.

Her last trip out she had the pleasure of working with three rather good specimens of male anatomy. That had been a good trip, she remembered fondly. This trip was anything but. Rather than more males than females, this time there were more females than males and the males were not the greatest of choices. They had been chosen for this task based on their technical abilities rather than their bodies. Someone needed to speak to the selection committee before their stupidity resulted in chaos on the stations...

Sha-Halda was checking the signal strength from various ground stations when something else got her attention. It wasn't a very clear signal, though the strength of the broadcast indicated that it had some power. That meant that the antennae it was directed at needed to be tuned for a clearer signal.

"Mash-Tern," she called the senior technician on duty. "I have a strong signal that is misaligned. Permission to turn the antennae?"

Mash-Tern came to watch over her shoulder as she authorized Sha-Halda to make the changes. They were both surprised when the turn ended up looking into space rather than at a ground station.

The image suddenly cleared and showed three Maha-Rrin only they were not dressed as a Maha-Rrin would dress. The one in the middle wore a sash over her left shoulder going diagonally down to her right hip and a weapon at her left hip. One was wearing some kind of one-piece suit while the other was wearing a gown that shimmered when it moved.

"Greetings to our cousins, the Maha-Rrin, from the Pod-Drran. I am Ambassador Nar-Tre Sai-Rai of the Pod-Drran. This is Mind-Ur and Caye-Ur of the Union.

"In the many millennia since the destruction of Ruhm-Oran, our two member races have worked hard to prosper independently. However, the time for such isolation to end is at hand.

"The Goddess, Mada-Ail, said long ago that 'There will come a time where the two halves must come together to save the future,'. We believe that time is now.

"We, the Pod-Drran, have come to understand that our species is not alone in the galaxy. In fact, we are aware of eleven other species that we now have contact with.

"They call themselves the 'Interspecies Community' and often refer to the whole as 'The Greater Community'. The purpose of the Greater Community is to advance the whole of the community. This often means helping a species with solutions to problems that another species has already solved.

"For instance, we, the Pod-Drran, have been given a means to repair the damage that our industry has made to our ecosystem. We have also been given the means to travel the galaxy in faster than light jump ships, capable of jumping incredible distances between the stars.

"We know that you are aware of the FTL Comms Probe that jumps into your system on a regular basis. We have been using these probes to learn about the Maha-Rrin, your language, your customs, and how you rule your people.

"We are making use of this probe to send this message. It will record any message you send back on this frequency and return it to us. From there, we can begin to reach out to each other and to the Greater Community. As soon as the probe receives your message, it will return to our location. We can then arrange for a face-to-face meeting between us and, eventually, the members of the Greater Community. We look forward to future conversations.

"In the name of the Goddess, we encourage you to return our signal and end our mutual isolation."

The signal contained several information bricks. Sha-Halda opened one of the bricks to find a list of species members of the Interspecies Community. She looked at the Senior Tech in surprise.

"Not a word of this to anyone. You will be the only person who will send or receive communications from this source. If you speak of this to anyone before authorization is given, I will replace you with one of the males. Understood?" Mash-Tern demanded, getting a nod from Sha-Halda.

The pair sent an emergency signal to Mala-Henal, the Senior Operations Officer (SOO) at the central ground station on the planet below. Mash-Tern spoke to her privately and had Sha-Halda send the full message plus information packets directly to her.

Shit! Thought Sha-Halda. They will remove me from active work on the station, which means I will be even more bored!

Well, there was boredom and then there was boredom. Repetitive work was one thing...waiting around for messages from a source outside of the Maha-Rrin was something totally different...

Shartan-Shanat (The Palace of Science), The Maha-Rrin Home World, 112 Light Years from Terra

Pemipinae Melda-Hetta was informed of the news directly by Mala-Henal, in a message using emergency protocols. The Pemipinae immediately contacted the SOO on a secure line.

"Is this a joke?" she asked of her subordinate.

"No, Pemipinae," Mala-Henal replied. "A message was received from the probe that continues to enter our space. I have seen the message, which purports to come from the Pod-Drran speaking for a Greater Community of eleven other species. There are four information bricks that contain information that you will want to see personally.

"There are two techs on the Varnala who are aware of the message. One is a Comms Tech, Sha-Halda, the other is the Senior Shift Tech, Mash-Tern. Mash-Tern has isolated Sha-Halda. Until further notice, Sha-Halda is now the only person who can receive or send information on the frequency that we received this information on," Mala-Henal advised.

"Very well, I do not want this information being sent by a Comms link, secure or not. Have a runner bring it directly to the Sharan-Shanat," the Pemipinae ordered.

"My shift has ended, Pemipinae, I can bring this to you personally," Mala-Henal explained.

"That would be ideal, that will keep this to a minimum number of people. Get it here as fast as you can," Melda-Hetta commanded.

************

Mala-Henal was introduced to the Main Conference Room in the Shartan-Shanat 20 Murt (Maha-Rrin minute approximately 1 1/3 of a Terran minute = 26 min) later. She was surprised to see all of the Senior Guild Masters sitting around the table. Mala-Henal heard the door being sealed behind her. She approached the table and bowed.

"That will be enough of that, Mala-Henal," the Pemipinae spoke. "Put the information up on the main monitor."

The group watched in silence as the message played out.

"Comments?" the Pemipinae asked.

"Her grasp of Maha-Rrin is slightly off," the Head of the Communications Guild stated.

"I'm more curious as to what you think of the message itself?" the Pemipinae stated, slightly miffed at the attitude of Emena-Halen.

"They are invoking the Goddess to end the time of isolation. There must be a reason for that," the Head of the Science Guild indicated.

"I agree," the Head of the Medical Guild declared. "That they should come to us at this time, when we are aware of major issues with our Insufficient DNA spread, is a providence. It is speculated that an influx of new DNA is needed to end these issues and the Pod-Drran are ideal donors as, I suspect, we would be for them."

"Do you think that is why they are contacting us?" asked the Head of the General Services Guild.

"That is pure speculation," the Pemipinae stated, bringing that inquiry to a halt. "We will have to return the message in order to find out more of why they are seeking us out at this time.

"Mala-Hanel, you indicated that there are information bricks embedded in the message?" the Pemipinae asked.

"Yes, Pemipinae," Mala-Hanel replied immediately. She opened the brick containing the information on the species of the Greater Community which shocked the Heads of Guilds.

Mala-Hanel broke the information up by species and placed it on various monitors around the table.

"Twelve species?" someone commented in wonder.

"Ambassador Nar-Tre said that each species brought ideas that helped the whole. I wonder what each has contributed," the Head of the Emergency Services Guild openly speculated.

"What kinds of potential exists here?" someone asked. "It could move us ahead in some areas by generations..."

"Again, that is speculation," the Pemipinae said. "We need to decide what we will do with this message and the information that has been provided to us.

"I am most worried about the 'Humans' whose area of space we live in. What if they decide that we are of no use to them?" the Pemipinae asked.

"We need more information. We need to return this message and ask for information more pertinent to why the Pod-Drran have opened a dialogue with us. To that end, the remainder of this day will be involved in drafting a suitable reply.

"Emena-Helan, as the Head of the Communications Guild, you are charged with sending the reply. Make sure that only Mala-Henal, Mash-Tern, and Sha-Halda are responsible for sending and receiving information from this source until further notice. Until we have more information, it is not the time to reveal more to our people," the Pemipinae commanded.

The >Clott< Shuttle Port, Asoc Shall (The Asoc's City), Asocar, 364 Light Years from Terra

PV The Trine landed at the shuttle port in front of the massive Imperial Palace known to the inhabitants of Asocar as '>Clott<'. The static probe slipped out and grounded the vessel with a powerful flash. Asocar had a massive electro-magnetic belt surrounding the planet and anything that passed through it received a powerful static charge.

Junelliya, Hanalei, and Fayad stepped out of the open hatch and walked down the extended ramp to greet the Asoc in person. They stopped in front of her and gave a low bow.

The trio was dressed in their best, including all of their medals. Fayad wore a tailored purple silk shirt and dark dress pants, while his two wives wore Anuuran style long dresses made of silk, Hanalei in pale yellow and Junelliya in an off-white colour. Junelliya also wore her Empath medallion and the armband of the new Order of Telepaths, which the Asoc recognized.

"The Asoc welcomes you to Asocar, Fayad Piscium Sai-Rai, Hanalei Anar, and Junelliya Atohan Herlan," the Court Seneschal called out, giving the trio a low bow.

"It is good to see you in person, Junelliya," the Asoc stated. "WE are impressed with this vessel of yours, especially if it can jump as far as you have indicated in our previous conversation."

"Would you like a tour of The Trine before we take you to The Wanderer in orbit, Asoc?" Hanalei asked.

"I would," the Asoc agreed. "It can take all twenty-two of us?"

"It can, Asoc," Fayad assured her.

"You did not bring the little one?" the Asoc asked.

"With our Nanny on The Wanderer, Asoc." Junelliya laughed. "You will have the opportunity to greet them in person before we arrive at the Interspecies Embassy."

The Asoc and her mate, the Asost, were given a private tour of the vessel, with their two guards in tow. While the vessel was small, it was richly appointed. The pair were impressed in spite of the fact that they had not intended to show such to the humans. The tour ended in the Multi-purpose VIP room.

"This is a private vessel?" the Asost asked.

"It is Asost. It belongs to my wife, Hanalei," Fayad explained.

The Asoc blinked. "I thought Junelliya was your mate?" she wanted to know.

"She is Asoc," Hanalei agreed, giggling. "We are from the planet Anuura, Asoc. Plural marriages are permitted there. We are a married Trine, which gives the ship its name; The Trine."

"I am impressed with this little vessel. It is smaller than some of our shuttles yet is capable of 190 light year jumps?" the Asoc inquired. "The only FTL vessels that we know of are the large Djinaëte ships, which need to be large because of their method of generating power. So your ship and its capabilities are a revelation to Asocans."