The Shadow Among The Stars: Book One of the Dread Naught Trilogy Read online

  Kirby sheepishly raised a hand. “Not to take away from that grand cultural relativity lecture, but to jump back to the whole thing about getting’ propositioned by an alien for a second: isn’t Qixing skin rough? Wouldn’t that ...”, she squirmed for a moment, squeezing her knees together and making a sound of discomfort deep in her throat.

  Runner was about to speak, but Bryluen intercepted. “That’s often overstated regardless, but they don’t have scales everywhere. Otherwise, you just need to lubricate.” The team turned toward her all at once. She simply smiled coyly.

  After a moment, Runner smacked his lips. “Is this wha-at it’s like to get The Talk from your moth-her?”

  “Oh, so when we first meet, I’m ’eye-catching’ and you joke about being ’deflated’ that I’ve got a wife, but as soon as I know a thing or two about sleeping with aliens, I’m your mother. The problem here lies with you, young man.”

  12. Quintessential Qixing

  Dread Naught was lined up on the landing pad, with Bryluen waiting at the door to the entryway corridor. The sleek Qixing shuttle was a pale green shape with subtle decorative fixtures on each corner. The vehicle swung in low, landing casually on the landing pad. The Atet and the three shuttles had been parked as far to the side as possible to make a comfortable space for the delegation to land. With a soft hiss, the shuttle ramp lowered.

  The Qixing were visually similar to Humans to such an unlikely degree that both species had spent years exploring the implications of their external phenotypical similarities. Regardless, none would otherwise doubt the distance in biological heritage—the initial life stages of the two species varied greatly, not to mention much of their internal workings and the kind of awe-inspiring genetic differentiation expected between species that evolved on entirely different planets.

  The skin of the Qixing appeared in any number of green tones, with certain populations featuring blues and grays. The diplomatic party was a particularly cosmopolitan mixture of skin colors among all three sexes—which is to say the fertilizing, incubating, and gestating sexes. The first and third were identified readily enough in Human terminology as male and female, while the incubating sex had no Human equivalent.

  Qixing eyebrows were wire-thin and dense almost to the point of feeling solid, and the outer surface of their lips consisted of thin vertical strips of the same keratin-like compound that composed their fingernails. Traditionally their lips were either filed along the sides of the strips into an almost sharpened series of outward-facing ridges, or etched with various patterns. Since human contact, however, smoothing them down to a continuous soft curve had become an accepted style. The aliens’ eyes—more accustomed to aquatic spaces given the environments of their home world—had large pupils with thin irises in purples, yellows, or oranges that approached red tones. Their eyes were most often consistent in appearance to Humans who featured epicanthic folds that obscured the inner eyelids.

  Qixing hair was silken, fragile, quick-growing, and came in widely varied tones anywhere from black to the yellows, oranges, and reds their eyes often attained. Their skin was covered in tiny denticles like those of a shark, and was slightly thicker than that of humans. Their teeth bore a pearlescent sheen and the insides of their mouths, tongues, and so on were in various blue-green tones. Otherwise their shapes and proportions were somewhat similarly to Humans, with a tendency to be stockier and shorter. The other obvious difference was an extra cartilaginous skeletal feature that made their collar bones appear as one unified arc below their neck.

  While the T’hròstag were famously capable of confusing the two species (their own biology being a massive departure from either), to a Human or Qixing observer the numerous subtle differences in facial structure, posture, motion, and expression left no doubt to their alien natures regardless of the more obvious dissimilarities.

  The gendered sound ʻɒ’ (often spelled aou, something like exhaling an open-ended, percussive ʻO’ sound) was used to voice the character-mark used in Qixing Imperial Writing to gender a word or idea as the incubating sex. This sound was thus borrowed by Humans and rendered as a standardized way to comfortably refer to them, resulting in the linguistically apocryphal but commonly-used terms aoumale and aouman. In terms of pronouns this was embodied as Aoue (pronounced like a breathier rendition of the French oui), Haoum, Haous, and Haoumself.

  The head diplomat was a tall aouman named Lo’Kanh Rurt’Ya’Ka’Thun. Aoue was an exemplar of haous sex, with hips slightly wider than the narrow pelvis of a Qixing male alongside a number of facial features that rendered haoum androgynous to human eyes. Spinal curvature—as well as nutrient glands in the upper chest—suggested a more feminine visual persuasion. However details of limb musculature, gait, and shoulder actuation brought to mind something more akin to Humanly masculine visual precepts. To a Qixing, of course, an aouman would be quite distinct from a man or woman for dozens of obvious reasons.

  Rur’Thu—the diplomat's shortened, or common name —was a shade of striking slate. Aoue lead the diplomatic procession from the shuttle toward Dread Naught. Every diplomat was clad in traditional robes colored according to their rank, with a tasteful minimum of embroidery. Subtleties in fit and overall shape varied between sexes and individuals, as did differing profiles of lip paint and colorful painted accents along their upper eyelids. The body guards were clad in the angular aqua armor of an ambassadorial retinue, with their sloping helmets on and rounded firearms in hand. Each had a banner mounted to their back declaring the identity of their assigned diplomat. The two yolnfas, an aouman and woman, were elaborately clad. Their hair was styled in a more artistic fashion, and their faces and nails were painted in complementary patterns. Their robes were cut much closer to the body and trailed numerous tassels, and most of their surface was embroidered in delicate designs.

  One by one the members of Dread Naught engaged in the formal greeting of the Qixing with one hand, while shaking firmly in the standard Human tradition with the other. A formal Qixing greeting began with the host extending a hand with their palm facing upward. The guest would then place their palm upon that of the host, at which point the host would introduce themselves by name and the name of the clan or organization they represented. The guest would respond in kind with their own identity, at which point both would simultaneously incline their heads and say in their respective languages: “May the days between our meetings be fruitful” before straightening up and withdrawing their hands. Fortunately, only the three diplomats required formal greetings by the members of Dread Naught—hosts held the burden of introductions more than the guests during smaller meetings, as they need only be represented in greetings by the highest-esteemed members of their party.

  As Bryluen greeted the third diplomat, she lead the trio inside the entry hall. The secretaries followed close behind as she walked them to the meeting room. Nicadzim, as the most unflappable and least excitable member of the group, had been instructed to wait the proper three paces before offering to lead the bodyguards and yolnfas to the lounge for drinks and meals. He offered his arm to the elder yolnfa, indicated by the color of her robe’s collar. The bodyguards politely declined the invitation to enter, instead taking up a formation on the landing pad and becoming utterly still. Dread Naught fell in behind Nicadzim and the guests, and by the time they reached the lobby Bryluen and the diplomats were already closed up inside of the meeting room with the lights dimmed and the projector flaring to life.

  The female yolnfa was called Fra’Houn. She was a wide-faced woman whose pampered skin was a deep midnight purple. The Qixing were overwhelmingly traditionalist in regard to hair styling, finding it more important as a social signifier than an element of personal expression. As a result, Fra'Houn wore her hair long and neat, bound into a looping shape by jade bands. She walked with an easy sway and kept four fingers of one hand touching the top of Nicadzim’s extended forearm. Upon reaching the entrance to the lounge, Nicadzim shifted his stance to make it clear they had arrived. Th
e yolnfa proceeded inside, removing her touch from the man’s arm and heading to sit daintily on one couch. The aoumale yolnfa, named Xong’Tcho, was no less poised and elegant, possessing a slender face and pistachio green skin. His hair was short and spiked, a common cut among aoumen. Aoue sat serenely on the opposite couch from haous compatriot. Runner promptly presented dispensary menu tabs to the entertainers, who were of course gracious and charmingly flutter-eyed at every turn.

  Within the meeting room, Bryluen went over a recent after-action report from an encounter with The Dreaded on Gru’Thiall, on the far rim of Qixing space.

  “They were definitely after something, and I’m glad the Sentinels and Marines stopped them from reaching it. But they don’t always have to strike border systems. Without a way to track them or proper knowledge of their motives, we don’t know if they will eventually decide to skip past the outer gates and strike a more inhabited world. Even if contained, any landing could very reasonably produce panic, not to mention if something really goes wrong.”

  Rur’Thu smiled thinly. The Qixing’s major languages leaned toward half-tonal patterns to differentiate meaning and attitude. This habit, when applied to any atonal Human tongues, produced a flat-sounding affectation in the Qixing’s speech. The diplomat was well versed, however, and such signs were spare and minimal, mostly exhibited in what occasionally sounded like a subtle lisp. “We are researching methods and analyzing energy fluctuations from the gates. I have read your writings on the Stone, but I have neither seen nor heard of such artifacts. Our Sentinels have kept an eye out, but have produced nothing.”

  “I understand, but this threat will continue to escalate. The Dreaded will be back on Gru’Thiall to claim whatever is there. I know it’s dense and difficult to explore, but they set themselves on a specific course.” Bryluen traced her hand in a line across a projected map of Gru’Thiall. “Send a team to follow this line, and they may eventually find what The Dreaded sought. I understand, however, that without any scans it’s impractical to go on a blind jungle trek.”

  “We will send drones to begin surveying a tract of land in that direction on your behalf. It will cost us little, and I do not want you to feel I am rejecting your counsel. I simply see a threat that has remained contained for now. We will determine a way to track these Dreaded through the gates and beat back the Sjorthursars with our patrol ships. Our Interior Guard garrisons are more than equipped for such attacks as well.”

  “For now. It’s nothing officially verifiable, but Vort, the alien you didn’t recognize at the landing pad? He claims to have been transported from another galaxy where they, too, were encountering The Dreaded. I won’t pretend that’s proof of threat for you to jump on, but it’s a detail to keep in the back of your mind. We can’t assume total numbers or deployment strength.”

  Rur’Thu scratched haous chin with his pinky finger in a circular motion. As with most Qixing, the finger nail was rounded and hemispherical, covering much of the finger tip. “I will do so, but you understand my reticence to advocate large-scale military deployment. I will not raise rumors of danger on our borders without provable cause. The House of Ho’Xal frowns on brash actions.”

  Bryluen gestured with one hand. “Very well. The gate research will serve us well regardless, and when proof is acquired the CSOE will forward it. What resources are you willing to shift with the current information?”

  The Qixing were the first alien species to make formal contact with Humanity some decades ago, and since then the two species had rapidly become closely allied. Though anglicized as Qixing, the Q was pronounced as ’kh’, and the letter ’X’ in fact stood for a sound in the Qixing language that could reasonably be spelled ’hsi’, an exhaled sibilant sound. This nomenclature applied to any anglicized Qixing word, and it often took some practice before an English-speaker could reliably produce the sound in the middle of a word without awkward pauses to either side.

  The Qixing Commonwealth was a complex array of established cultures under the umbrella of a Constitutional Monarchy. The reigning queen, Tong Ho’Suthya Vraya Ho’Xal was the head of state, and during her reign the Ho’Xal dynasty had reached the fourth consecutive century of its rule. The Qixing people developed on Torva’Ang, a world of numerous, small land masses. Most of these consisted of soft rock through which winding tunnels had been worn by the changing tides as epochs came and went. These hive-like islands, isolated fortresses amid a planet-spanning sea, are where the species sought shelter and grew in much of its early developmental period.

  Due to this dramatic natural backdrop, most Qixing myth systems regarded the ocean as the churning waters of chaos out of which order had risen. One of the oldest Qixing myths—found in numerous belief systems on Torva’Ang—was the Qixing's creation by a primordial fish or (what could loosely be termed) a whale—the Ho’Xal, or ’Wave Aouther’ (Roughly, as numerous other connotations to the word exist that are difficult to effectively express in human languages). In the most common rendition of the myth, the Ho’Xal summoned the islands from the sea and laid aous eggs within their hollows. From these eggs, the Ho’Qixing, or “Wave Children” were born. It was often theorized such tales were inspired by one or more species of the numerous aquatic megafauna inhabiting Torva’Ang’s oceans, and that the Qixing’s evolution took them onto land when so few other species have done so.

  The Qixing had seen numerous wars as their species spread across Torva’Ang, vying for the valuable islands and rapidly developing buoyant structures. Millennia later, much of the world was covered in massive, tiered artificial islands—some of which were mobile and migrated with the seasons. The Qixing developed space flight through frenzied national competition, eventually beginning to colonize other worlds in a manner similar to Humanity.

  The Qixing had never forgotten their watery home and the deep impact it made on their civilization—in fact the three-sex reproductive system the species developed had served to increase the genetic diversity of smaller populations isolated by the sea. They took many traditional sensibilities and age-old aesthetics with them into space as well as the Monarchy which, through wit and long-running political maneuverings, eventually came to be the presiding authority over all the lesser nations.

  The Qixing occupied a larger number of systems than Humanity, and had rapidly established Sentinel stations at every Gate in their possession. Due to a history of maintaining nebulous oceanic borders, the Qixing were quite accustomed to keeping a close eye on travel and required special dispensation for a foreign ship to pass into their space while armed—including defensive weapons on freighters. Relations built quickly with Humanity to the point where either species was not an entirely uncommon sight in the others’ territory. Inter-species families and couplings (or trios, as is the traditional Qixing relationship dynamic) now existed in respectable numbers as each species found the other exotic and intriguing, though obviously cross-breeding was as impossible between a Human and a Qixing as between a goat and the average garden snake. This had been scientifically assumed for various reasons, but certainly had not served to dampen anyone’s enthusiasm.

  Humans and Qixing had embarked on limited cooperative military exercises, minor engagements, and cross-training programs over the past years, although the two species had never fought together in war.

  Tensions with the T’hròstag continued mainly unabated as with Humanity, though to the surly aliens the occasional skirmish was an expected assessment of the worthiness of its neighbors rather than a form of political aggression. The T’hròstag paid the lack of understanding expressed by their neighbors little if any mind—in their opinion it continued to be a source of consternation that the Qixing and Humans failed to occasionally raid their border colonies.

  Runner sat next to Fra’Houn, regaling her with a vivid retelling of the most comic hijinks he encountered during his destruction of the Milieu crime network. Regardless of his eventual success, the endeavor had been wrought with numerous near-misses and miscalculated
ambushes he survived by the skin of his teeth. His journey to folk hero status was long and treacherous, but he admitted the more lascivious side of his nature quite enjoyed the attention such risks brought his way. He, of course, relayed the nature of several rendezvous to the attentive yolnfa, causing her to giggle coyly.

  During this retelling, Fra’Houn ate a Qixing delicacy with the practiced poise of an empress, her eyes never having to leave Runners’. The most common utensil of a Qixing meal was a thin, delicate pair of tongs. One side of the tongs featured a small hook that was used to pry or pull open the various kinds of shelled seafood that often featured in Qixing cuisine. Runner estimated her to be around twenty-five years older than he, and at least forty-five years more deft at handling eating utensils.

  The yolnfa effortlessly projected both a feigned, paradoxically-enticing innocence as well as knowing comfort, wisdom, and experience. Despite his knowledge that Fra’Houn was professionally trained to make anyone who spoke to her feel validated and valuable, Runner found himself believing her cooing and gasped expressions of interest and amazement. He supposed it was no harm either way, given how nice it made him feel—every time he inserted a dramatic pause she would react in just such a way as to cause a flutter in his chest at her focused adoration of his words. This, he reflected, would be a fantastic way to spend money in the future. He never before felt so comfortable simply speaking at length, and was quite taken with the sensation.

  Meanwhile Kirby and Nicadzim sat with Xong’Tcho, changing topics as needed. Xong’Tcho was a scholarly conversationalist, haous handsomeness and smooth baritone voice perfect for poetry, oration, and the detailed, compelling recollection of historical events. Nicadzim found quiet satisfaction in relating—in the least-concerning amount of detail possible—some of the things he had seen and adventures he had been on during his not-dreams. Xong’Tcho found the imagery fascinating and poetic, causing haoum to at one point delve deep into the works of Ro’Ro Jin’Tai—one of the foundational Qixing Mid-Imperial Era poets—for appropriate quotations and philosophy. Nicadzim was surprisingly familiar with Qixing poetic conventions, and held his own well enough to cause Kirby to make an awed face at him from behind the yolnfa sitting between them.