Evershore (Skyward Flight: Novella 3)

Alanik followed me up to talk to Stoff, and I didn’t stop her. Stoff had the entire DDF behind him, and I wanted a little strength in numbers of my own. I would have called in the whole flight if I’d thought it would help.

Stoff was sitting in his office—he’d left the admiral’s office empty in Cobb’s absence, which I took as another sign he wasn’t looking to usurp Cobb’s position.

“We’ve found a transmission from a hypercomm, sir,” I said. “Someone called Kauri looking for Spensa.”

“Is it the Superiority?” Stoff asked.

“It could be,” I said. “But they claim to be a kitsen. We have the coordinates for the message, so we can try to reach whoever it is by hypercomm. The message said they have our humans and they’d like to return them. It could be Cobb and Mrs. Nightshade, but we don’t know for sure.”

“Thank you,” Stoff said. “If you get the hypercomm set up, I’ll speak with them.”

“I’d like to talk to them, sir,” I said. “Alanik and I made the initial contact, and if they really are a kitsen, that might be another group we could approach about an alliance. Cobb put us in charge of making alliances, so we should have the clearance to do so.”

I knew that was a stretch, but I tried not to show it. Stoff sighed and gave me an appraising look. I was pretty sure he was weighing how much rope he could give me to hang myself without looking like he was part of the problem when Cobb returned.

But there wouldn’t be a problem when Cobb returned, because we were doing what Cobb wanted in the first place.

“All right,” he said. “Your team has the most experience dealing with aliens, so you may take point.”

Alanik raised an eyebrow at him. I didn’t think she appreciated our efforts with her people being reduced to “dealing with aliens,” but at least he hadn’t called them lesser.

“I’d like to brief Cuna on the interaction as well,” I said. “They might have some insight about who we’re dealing with.”

“Agreed,” Stoff said. “I’ll call the team to the command room in thirty minutes.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said.

Stoff nodded. I was dismissed.

I found Cuna sitting in their living quarters with the other diones we’d rescued from Sunreach. “We’ve intercepted a message from someone looking for Spensa,” I said. “They claim to be a kitsen named Kauri.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Cuna said. “The kitsen are among the most advanced of the lesser species when it comes to their nonaggression. It’s their outdated monarchy that has kept them from ascending to full citizenship.”

“I’m not sure if this really is a kitsen,” I said. “I’m concerned it might be a ploy—Winzik or his people trying to capture Spensa by pretending to be her allies.”

“Spensa worked with a group of kitsen when she was training on Starsight,” Cuna said. “So the claim is plausible! I interacted mostly with Hesho, their former monarch. His people could be powerful allies. They’ve had a long military history to overcome as they’ve worked to be ready for inclusion among the higher species.”

I stared at Cuna. “Our people have a long military history,” I said. “And that’s the only reason we were able to rescue you from Winzik in the first place.”

“Twice,” Alanik said.

“Of course,” Cuna said, though I wasn’t sure they’d understood my point. “And your people have a distant connection with the kitsen. They have some of the best records of cytonic history, despite having produced no cytonics for centuries.”

“We’re going to talk to them over the hypercomm in a few minutes, if you’d like to join us. I need to make sure the hypercomm is ready.”

“I would love to join you,” Cuna said.

“Thank you,” I said, and went off to get Fine into the hypercomm.

Stoff only invited a small number of people to the meeting. He and three people from the Communications Corps sat around the conference table. Cuna and Alanik entered and took two of the remaining chairs while I used the frequency impression I’d learned earlier to ask Fine to open communication with Kauri.

I spoke into the hypercomm’s microphone. “Kauri,” I said experimentally. “Can you hear me?”

“Human,” the voice said. “We are trying to reach Spensa, who once called herself by the name Alanik. Do you know where we might find her?”

“Spensa is away on a mission,” I said. It was true, even if it wasn’t complete. “We would like to speak to you though. What did you mean when you said you had our humans?”

“Two humans hyperjumped to our planet a few days ago,” the voice said. “We believe they might have arrived here by accident. We would have contacted you sooner, but we had to commandeer a hypercomm to do so.”

“You stole a Superiority hypercomm?” I asked.

“We did!”

“Kitsen are known for their bravery,” Cuna said. “It is a good quality, if it can be divorced from violence.”

I was certain violence was going to be necessary before all this was over, so I didn’t see that as a downside.

Alanik opened her eyes. “I’m searching the area near their broadcast point, but I’m not able to find Becca Nightshade. I don’t think she’s there.”

Kauri could be lying. Or these humans might have nothing to do with us. “Kauri,” I said. “What method did the humans use to hyperjump to your planet?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I assume one of them is a cytonic.”

Alanik shook her head, speaking quietly so the microphone wouldn’t pick her up. “I’m not sensing any cytonics in that area.”

“Would you be able to tell from this distance?” Stoff asked.

“Yes,” Alanik said, in a tone that said she didn’t like being questioned by someone who had no idea what they were talking about. “I have used the location of the hypercomm signal to pinpoint the area. I am quite reliable, especially when it comes to reaching a cytonic I’m familiar with.”

“If one of them is a cytonic,” I said, “they should be able to reach out to us, shouldn’t they? Why would you need to steal a hypercomm?”

“Well,” Kauri said, “something must have gone wrong during the hyperjump. Your humans are unconscious.”

I looked at Alanik, and she shook her head. She should still be able to sense an unconscious cytonic.

“If your cytonic died on arrival,” Cuna said, “you would no longer be able to sense her. Hyperjumps can be dangerous, and—”

“Are you certain they’re alive?” I asked Kauri.

“Yes,” Kauri said. “They are breathing, and their bodies are warm. We are not experts in human health, but we believe this means they are living.”

Two living humans could be anyone, from anywhere. “Can you describe the humans to me?” I asked.

“One of them is quite wrinkly,” Kauri said. “The male’s body is rather mottled and purple.”

“He’s purple?” I asked.

“Cobb was injured,” Alanik said. “When I saw him on the Superiority ship, he looked like he’d been in a fight.”

“Yes. The large gentleman with the hairy face has some wounds we’re trying to attend to, but we don’t know much about human physiology.”

“I still need someone to explain that lip hair to me,” Alanik said. “It seems problematic.”

“We would like to return your humans to you for medical attention!” Kauri said. “We have been to the location of your planet, but we don’t have a hyperdrive to reach you! We were able to stow away on a carrier ship to return home from Starsight, but stealing a ship of that size is beyond our abilities. Do you have access to a hyperdrive?”

Alanik and I exchanged a look. Winzik already knew we had hyperdrives, so giving that away wouldn’t be terrible.

“We have transportation,” I said.

“That is most fortuitous!” Kauri said. “We look forward to making your acquaintance. Though Spensa deceived us, we found her to be a most honorable and formidable warrior, and we look forward to meeting with her peers, if indeed she has any.”

I wasn’t sure if I should be offended by that or not.

“Are we going to go?” Alanik asked quietly. “I still think it’s suspicious that I can’t find Gran-Gran on their planet.”

I hesitated. We hadn’t said we would go, but if they had Gran-Gran and Cobb, we had to do everything in our power to retrieve them. It was a risk, but without taking risks we’d never be able to find more allies.

I muted the microphone. “Sir,” I said to Stoff, “I would like to send a small group to investigate. If we control the destination of our hyperjump, we should be able to scan the area for Superiority presence before we’re spotted. According to Section 14 of the DDF Statutes on Prisoners of War, if a commander is missing behind enemy lines, it should be considered an implied order to rescue that commander if it does not directly interfere with the current mission. In this case, I’d say the section applies.”

“I agree,” Stoff said. “I think you should accompany your flight and investigate the situation.”

I blinked at him. I wanted to go—I never wanted to send my flight anywhere without me. Even staying behind when they returned to ReDawn had been difficult.

Stoff knew that. Did he want me to go because he knew I was watching him? Alanik and I were the DDF’s only cytonics. They needed us, so they should be reticent to send us both away at once.

But old prejudices ran deep. They were still afraid of us. So sending us away on a mission—one they could either take credit for if it was a success or scapegoat us for if it was a failure—probably seemed like a convenient excuse to get us out of the way.

If it meant we’d get Cobb back though, it worked in our favor.

“Yes, sir,” I said. “I’ll get my team ready.”

Stoff nodded. “Better tell them you’re coming, then.”

“I think it would be better if we don’t,” I said. “If it is a trap, they’ll have less time to prepare.”

“All right,” Stoff said. “But you’ll want to hurry. If Cobb and Mrs. Nightshade need medical attention, we’ll want to get it to them sooner rather than later.”

“Agreed.” I unmuted the microphone. “We will try to make arrangements to retrieve our people,” I told Kauri. “We thank you for your patience.”

“We look forward to making your acquaintance, human,” Kauri said. “May the stars guide you.”

“And you,” I said.

I hoped Cuna was right that the kitsen would make excellent allies.

But at the moment, I would settle for having Cobb back, healthy and well.