The Last Starry Night

Azzie realized she was lying on the cool stone of the floor of the Beast’s temple, heart pounding.

“Azalea?” said Mama. “Are you ok? Can you hear me?”

“Yes,” she said. She felt like she was waking up from a nightmare. In fact, she found that her memory of the Trial was fading, too, just like a dream.

“What happened?” asked Srini. “Did you pass?”

Azzie didn’t want to remember, but she tried anyway. Something came back to her...

“The Beast told me that the Warriors were freezing the Earth,” she said. “But I didn’t believe it. That’s all I remember.”

Srini turned to the Artists waiting nearby. “All right,” she said. “Who’s next?”

The Artists looked at one another. “That completes the Trials,” said the glowing red ball.

“What do you mean?” said Gwen. “I haven’t done it yet. Neither has Srini.”

“The Beast has seen enough to make its judgment,” said the Artist.

“I thought it wanted to judge all of us,” said Srini.

“That, it appears, is unnecessary,” said the Artist.

“The Beast is just making stuff up,” cried Azzie. “It’s just playing with us!”

“The Beast has made its judgment,” said all the Artists in unison. “We stand in witness. The race of humans is not sentient.”

Azzie felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. She’d been half expecting this; still, it didn’t make it any easier to take. Mama gasped. Srini bowed her head. Gwen looked like she was about to explode.

“The humans,” said the glowing red Artist, “show considerable variation in the species. Some are very intelligent; others surprisingly slow. Some show great courage; others are fearful. Their greatest strength is compassion, though even there great improvement must be made. And they harbor a terror of death.”

“What!” cried Azzie. “And all this shows that we aren’t sentient?”

“It’s my fault, Azalea,” said Mama. “I must have failed the Trial.” She covered her face.

“That’s ridiculous!” said Azzie.

“What about these other species, these so-called sentient species?” cried Srini. “Are the Warriors so intelligent? So brave? Compassionate? They don’t fear death? Yeah, right! Most of them are just plain killers!”

“The three of us outsmarted six of them and stole their ship!” said Gwen.

“Right,” said Srini. “If that’s your criteria for sentience, then it seems to me that we humans have a lot better claim to it than these Warriors have!”

The Artist said quietly, “The Beast has made its judgment.”

“The Beast is a fraud and a fool!” said Azzie.

The Artist said, “Humanity is acknowledged to be a child species. These humans are hereby handed over to the emissary from the Warriors. The Judgment Gathering is dissolved.”

Azzie was madder than she’d ever been in her life. The injustice of it was more than she could bear. Surely they must see how wrong the judgment was. But none of the Artists, Shamans, or Warriors cared about that. They were perfectly happy to have humanity labeled a child species. Nothing the humans could say would ever convince them.

The Artists led the way out of the Beast’s temple. They followed them, fuming, back along the road through the Beast’s town. There, the Artists handed the humans over to an escort of Shamans and Warriors. Almost without pausing, they continued over the airy span across the rippling blue river, through the tall cultivated fields, and slowly up the long incline that clung to the side of the cliff overlooking the Beast’s valley. All the way, Azzie’s mind churned. The Warriors would be allowed to do whatever they wanted to subdue the humans and make sure they obeyed. Including removing the sun. For all they knew, the sun might already be gone. The walk through the valley and the woods did nothing to calm Azzie down.

“They can’t do this,” she muttered at last.

“There’s nothing we can do,” said Gwen. “Except go back to Earth and help the fight. We’ve learned a lot about the Warriors that might be useful for the war...”

“What war?” asked Srini tonelessly. “They’ll take away the sun, and then we’ll have to give up. It’ll be a night that gets colder and colder... People will be able to keep warm with fires and burning coal for electricity for a while, but so many will die... and the animals and plants...”

“No!” said Azzie. “Just because they say we’re not sentient doesn’t mean we’re going to lose. There has to be a way...”

Most of the Shamans were moving in a clump a few hundred feet ahead, and the Warriors were a few hundred feet behind. A few Shamans and Warriors, however, were nearby.

“Certainly there is a way,” said a Shaman. “Your species must become sentient. Study the Warriors, the Artists, and the Shamans. Try to be more like them. Eventually, over thousands or millions of years, your species and societies will become sentient. In the meantime, try to accept your situation. Being a child species is nothing to be ashamed of, and it does have advantages. Remember that the Warriors are charged with protecting you and providing for you, just as a parent would for a child.”

“Can we charge them with child abuse?” growled Gwen.

“Sometimes discipline is necessary.”

“Freezing and killing people is not discipline, it’s murder!” cried Azzie.

“In Warrior societies, control is most often exerted by means of force. It is reasonable for them to use the same techniques on humans.”

“It sounds like the Warriors are the ones who act like children,” said Srini.

“Speaking of which, when will the Warriors freeze the Earth?” asked Azzie.

“I don’t know,” said the Shaman. “We can find out when we get back to the ship.”

“So you’re taking us home to be frozen with the others?” snapped Gwen.

“Yes. As the Warriors requested.”

“What about my grandma?” asked Azzie. “You Shamans were negotiating to have her released. How did that go?”

“I don’t know,” said the Shaman. “We will get news when we get to the ship.”

“I have never,” said Gwen, “been so frustrated in my life.”

The Shaman looked at her carefully. Then it said, “I must leave,” and slithered forward quickly to join its fellows a few hundred feet ahead. The other handful of Shamans followed it. The Warriors walking nearby looked at each other.

“What was that about?” asked Srini.

“It probably sensed that an attack was coming,” hissed one of the Warriors. “They can see and hear the future, sometimes.” It raised its nullpistol.

“Who would attack us here?” asked Gwen.

The little group – two Warriors and five humans – stopped, listening. They were in a grassy field that smelled of lime and honey, dotted with gauzy rose-colored flowers. The larger group of Warriors was catching up. There was no noise but the hum of insects.

“What’s that?” asked Srini. She spotted a large leaf that had been oddly folded resting on the ground a few paces on. She picked it up, and opened it. “It’s a note.”

“What does it say?” said a Warrior.

“‘For our friends, the human children,’” said Srini. “‘Squeeze and run for the arch.’”

“What? That makes no sense,” said the Warrior.

“Well,” said Srini, “I expect it refers to this device that was wrapped up in the leaf.” She looked at it carefully. It was small enough to fit easily in her hand, black and round and smooth. She squeezed it gently. “It’s started vibrating,” she said.

“Give me that,” said the Warrior.

“I’ve been thinking,” said Srini softly, ignoring the Warrior. “The Warriors’ population doubles every two days. That’s ridiculously fast. On Earth, the only species which reproduce unusually quickly are those that have terrible predators. Like rabbits, you know. They have lots of children because they are almost defenseless against foxes, dogs, cats, and so on.”

“Give me that!”

“So,” continued Srini, “perhaps the Warriors have so many children because they have some kind of terrible predator back on their planet? What kind of predator would prey on Warriors like a fox preys on rabbits?”

“That one,” said Gwen, pointing.

Azzie’s first thought was: it’s a dragon. It hovered over the trees at the edge of the clearing, flapping great leathery wings. Like a dragon, it was huge and reptilian, with spikes down its back, and long black claws. Its body was thin and serpentine, covered with bright scales or feathers, and it had a single thin horn poking out of its horselike head.

The Warriors screeched and raised their nullpistols. With terrible speed, the dragon swept down on them – headed right for Srini. Srini screamed and threw the little vibrating device directly at the dragon. She missed – it fell below the dragon – and the dragon immediately turned and dove at it, driving its horn down where it fell. The Warriors fired, black bolts riddling the huge creature.

“Quick!” hissed Srini. “The arch!”

She pointed to the opposite end of the clearing. Azzie now saw for the first time, hard to see in the odd light from the brassy sun, a thin arch leaping up from the trees into the sky. The arch of a Warrior ship.

Gwen swept Johnny into her arms and led them all on a mad dash through the field. It was just possible that the dragon would keep the Warriors occupied long enough for them to reach the shelter of the trees. Azzie glanced back. The dragon did not seem to care much that its hide had dozens of holes. It hovered over the Warriors and picked them up and ate them, one by one. Some Warriors were running, but Warriors were not fast runners. Other Warriors were trying to fly away, but they did not fly very quickly, either. The dragon was keeping them occupied just fine.

They reached the trees, and sure enough, there was a small black spherical Warrior ship at the base of the arch. They dashed up the steps and through the force field surrounding the control room, and found themselves surrounded by familiar Warrior-shaped couches and control panels covered with multicolored vines.

“Okay,” said Gwen, breathing hard after her run. “That was awful. I mean, I’m glad we’re free, and I’m not sure what just happened, but that was awful, whatever it was. Can someone explain it to me?”

“The note and the little vibrating thing, they were left there by our four Warrior friends,” said Srini. She was scowling at a control panel. “This will probably get us going.” She tapped a leaf. Grinding noises came from the bowels of the ship. “After they left us last night, they must have captured this ship with the intent of leaving it for us. They figured that the Beast wouldn’t rule in our favor, and we’d need some way to fight back against the Warriors. This ship would be a good start. Then they realized they’d need to find some way to get us away from the Warriors who’d be guarding us. So they must have sprung that dragon thing from a zoo or something and transported it here in this ship...”

“How did they get it on the ship?” said Gwen. “By asking it nicely?” The ship was beginning to crawl up the arch.

“They probably put it to sleep with some drugs,” said Srini. “This ship’s a little bigger than the one we flew before – there’s probably a large cargo hold they could put it in.”

“But why would they deliberately kill their own people?” said Azzie. “Just to help us escape?”

Srini shook her head. “I guess they really felt that it was important to try to save the Earth,” she said. “But maybe we can’t expect to understand, really. They are aliens.”

“We owe them so much,” said Ngoc quietly.

Srini looked down at Johnny, sitting in Ngoc’s lap and holding the bear tightly. “Of course,” she whispered. “They were saving their Daddy.”

The ship rose over the trees, and looking down, they could see that the Warriors had overcome the dragon. It lay sprawled across the path, and Warriors, Shamans, and Artists were everywhere around it. Other Warriors were gathering at the base of the arch.

“We’ve got to get out of here very quickly, Srini,” said Gwen. “Does this thing go any faster?”

Srini looked uncertain. “I’m not sure,” she said. “Maybe this...?”

Instinctively Azzie grabbed the edge of a couch. Srini pushed on a leaf, and the ship lurched up, shoving them down towards the floor. She could see the ground falling away terribly fast.

“Okay, good,” said Gwen, grunting with the effort of staying on her feet. “Thanks, Srini, we can slow down again now please please please -- “

Srini managed to push another leaf, and the ship slowed down. The blue sky around them faded into darkness, and the ground began to curve at the edge. They were rising out of the atmosphere.

“Thanks, Srini,” said Gwen. “Good job saving our lives, there. Again.”

“You’re amazing, Srini,” said Azzie.

Srini blushed. “Um, sure. Glad I could help.”

“But now we have to figure out what to do next,” said Azzie. “We have a Warrior ship, and we know that the Warriors are going to be freezing the Earth soon, if they haven’t already. What can we do?”

“Actually,” said Srini, “I have some ideas about that. You remember that can of corned beef hash?”