The Trafalgar Gambit

Chapter Eight

As always, it was hard to tell how long it had been from the moment the aliens had left him alone with Jill to when they returned to his compartment. Henry knew he’d fallen asleep twice — being a starfighter pilot had taught him to sleep just about anywhere — but he honestly wasn’t sure how long he’d slept. But it had given him time to think and bounce ideas off Jill, once he’d told her what the researchers had established about the aliens. She’d picked up a great deal herself, merely from watching them closely.

“I don’t think they want us to mate,” she said. “I’ve never seen them show anything resembling sexual interest in anyone.”

“The researchers say they mate like fish,” Henry agreed. “The women eject eggs into the water; the men eject sperm and the two match up away from their parents, like tadpoles.”

Jill considered it as she lay back on the bed. “I wonder what that does to their society,” she mused. “Ira and I spent all the time we had together kissing and stuff. They won’t do anything of the sort.”

Henry couldn’t disagree. His sex life had always been more circumscribed than anyone born outside the Royal Family, but that hadn’t stopped him spending most of his waking hours plotting how to have sex. But so much of humanity’s culture, morality and society was built around sex, one way or the other. How would an alien race that didn’t have the same built-in urges as the human race grow and develop?

“They won’t have any concept of bastardry,” he said, finally. “The children might be brought up by dedicated teachers, rather than their natural parents. Hell, they may not even have husbands and wives, as we understand the term.”

He scowled, remembering his history. One of the most promising royal marriages had shattered after one of the participants revealed that he’d sired a bastard child. Another prince had been tormented by suggestions his father wasn’t his father, although Henry had sometimes wished his father hadn’t been his father. He could have left the Royal Family with a clear conscience and gone elsewhere.

Jill sighed, her breasts rising and falling as she breathed. “How strange,” she said. “And yet… why should we expect them to be like humans?”

Henry looked away from her. It was unlikely the aliens had realised just how many problems they were causing him by putting a naked and beautiful girl into his cell. There was little difference between alien males and females, as far as anyone could tell; they certainly didn’t mate like humans. But part of his body kept reminding him just how long it had been since he’d lain with Janelle. And he had a sneaking suspicion she felt the same way.

He shook his head, firmly, then strode over to the entrance and peered down into the murky water. It smelt funny, as always, but he’d grown used to it by now. There was nothing underneath the cell, as far as he could tell, apart from a source of light. The eerie green glow pervaded the water, marking the cell’s location. And yet, he had no idea why it was there. It wasn’t as if the aliens needed light to see underwater.

“We shouldn’t,” he said. There were hundreds of human cultures and societies, even though all humans shared the same biology. It was unlikely the aliens would have a culture humans would understand completely. They were probably equally perplexed over some of the materials they’d pulled from their conquests. “They’re nothing like humans.”

Something moved, deep below the waters. Henry stepped back, just in time to avoid an alien coming up and out of the water like a performing seal. It should have been an absurd scene, a literal fish out of water, and yet the alien moved with an eerie grace that belied its odd appearance above the water. They would make poor soldiers, Henry considered, particularly away from the sea. But they wouldn’t have to fight on the land to win the war.

The alien shivered, spraying water droplets everywhere, then turned to face him. Great yellow eyes met his, almost glowing in the dim light. Henry resisted the urge to take a step backwards as the alien squelched its way around the entrance and up towards the bed. Jill sat upright, her eyes flaring with alarm, just before the alien stopped and lowered itself to the floor. Henry hesitated, then walked back to the bed and sat next to Jill. She looked calm, calmer than he would have expected. But then, she’d been an alien captive for years.

“We must talk,” the alien said. As always, it used an electronic speaker. “We must understand you.”

It sounded more comprehensible, Henry noted. He’d always assumed the aliens had been studying human technology, including the teaching machines that could be found on almost any asteroid colony or small colonial homestead. Given time, they could have used the teachers to learn English and a great deal else about humanity, even though the machines contained nothing of tactical value. But the machines had also been designed for humans. It seemed equally possible that the aliens might have been unable to use them properly.

“We must talk too,” Henry said. He took a long breath. “This war started by accident.”

The alien seemed to recoil, slightly. It took Henry a moment to realise that it was connected — somehow — to its fellow aliens. Telepathy? There had been no sign the aliens were able to read minds. Or perhaps he was just over-thinking the issue and the alien was using communications implants. It made sense, Henry knew. The aliens might know the humans were trapped, unable to leave without drowning, but they’d want to supervise anyone who went into the cell. Henry might try to take the alien hostage.

“The War Faction states otherwise,” the alien informed him. “State your case.”

Jill crossed her arms under her breasts. Henry wanted to tell her to remain still. It was unlikely the aliens could read human body language, although they had definitely had a chance to download medical or psych textbooks from the colonies they’d overrun, but there was no point in taking chances. One of the most common human tactics in sensitive negotiations was to have one of the ambassadors an expert in reading people. A good one could tell a practiced liar from a honest man.

“We settled the same world as your people,” Jill said, carefully. “It never crossed our minds that someone else might be living under the waters.”

That was true, Henry knew. The Survey Protocols the various interstellar powers had formulated had never been intended to look for a race that lived underwater. No one had seriously believed that intelligent life could develop underwater, let alone develop technology and everything else that a spacefaring race would need. Survey ships looked for radio signals, glowing lights at night time and all the other signs that matched humanity’s own pattern. They’d never thought to look under the waves.

And that raises another question, Henry told himself, sourly. What if there are other colonies shared with the aliens — and we don’t know about them?

It seemed unlikely, he knew. Very few human colonies had one ship dropping off the colonists and no further contact with the rest of humanity. Most colonies were founded by nation-states, after all. But the aliens… who knew how they thought? Once they had ensured enough food in the oceans, they could settle a world and develop a colony without further contact from the homeworld. Maybe they believed in allowing a colony world to build up its population before they started to turn it into an industrial powerhouse.

“We believe that all races start in the waters,” the alien said. It definitely seemed to have mastered English. “Did yours not?”

“No,” Henry said. Technically speaking, humanity’s very distant ancestors had crawled out of the waters, but he had a feeling it would only confuse the aliens if he brought that up. “We started on the land.”

“But you killed one of our people,” the alien said. It was impossible to tell if it was speaking of Jill personally or humanity in general. “That is not the sign of a peaceful race.”

Henry shuddered. The alien had died… and its compatriots had mounted an immediate counterattack against what they’d assumed to be a hostile raiding party. A tragic mistake had rapidly turned into a nightmare, with tempers running high on both sides. And yet…

“You didn’t attack us at once,” he said. It was impossible to be sure, but he suspected that Jill had been a prisoner for over a year. But no one was quite sure when Heinlein had been destroyed. “Why not?”

There was a long pause, as if the alien was mentally debating what it should say. “War Faction stated that war was inevitable,” the alien said, slowly. “Peace Faction outvoted.”

Henry’s eyes narrowed. There had been no shortage of human political factions that had turned a minor incident into a major crisis just to secure their own power, but he had the odd feeling he was missing something. The aliens couldn’t be that close to humanity, could they?

Jill uncrossed her arms. “Which faction are you?”

“Peace Faction,” the alien said. “Further attacks did not come. Suggested shortage of hostile intent. War Faction unimpressed. Found your worlds. Attacked them.”

Henry considered it, slowly. “The War Faction believed we were hostile,” he said. “And so they planned a war against us?”

“Yes,” the alien said.

“And the Peace Faction did… what?” Henry asked. “Why didn’t you try to talk to us?”

“Consensus for war,” the alien said. “No talks until threat removed. Threat proved harder to defeat than War Faction believed. Attempted to convince War Faction to talk. War Faction refused. Attempted to talk to you directly. War Faction intervened.”

Henry remembered the alien cruiser, killed by another alien ship, and shivered.

“War Faction is locked on war,” the alien stated. “We must talk.”

Henry looked down at his hands. He might have been intended to serve as nothing more than a figurehead, but he did have a working knowledge of politics and diplomacy. It was impossible to be sure, once again, yet he thought he understood. The War Faction had believed humanity to be a threat and convinced the rest of its race to support preparations for a short victorious war. And the other alien factions, assuming there were more than two, had gone along with it. They might not have viewed humanity as a lethal threat, but they might have wanted to negotiate from a position of strength or even support the war in exchange for other compromises. Henry had seen enough backroom dealing in Buckingham Palace to know that votes could be bought, often for the most surprising prices.

And then the war had gone badly and some of the aliens had started having second thoughts.

Jill frowned. “How was the decision made?” She asked. “Who voted?”

Henry looked at the alien, interested.

“All voted,” the alien said. “But voting blocs split.”

Henry puzzled over the statement, then pushed it to one side until he had more data. The alien clearly thought he understood the underlying assumptions, that he possessed knowledge of a culture he lacked. Perhaps he, too, would have the same problems explaining human culture and society to the aliens. They’d put a naked man in the same cell as a naked woman without ever understanding why that might be a problem.

We need more data, he thought, recalling all the briefings they’d been given. The researchers had come up with hundreds of theories, but none of them had actually been proven. He was looking right at a source of data and he couldn’t even think what to ask. How do these bastards think?

“My people want peace,” he said. The human race had nothing to gain from a war with an alien race, particularly if they could agree on a border instead. Hell, they could share the border worlds without bumping into one another. “You need to talk to us.”

“We have tried,” the alien stated. “It failed.”

“It failed because your War Faction stopped it,” Henry said. “You could try again.”

The alien eyed him unblinkingly. “And your people would listen to us?”

“Yes,” Henry said. “They will listen.”

“Take us with you,” Jill said. “We can tell them you want peace.”

“The War Faction does not want peace,” the alien said. “That is why it is called the War Faction.”

Henry blinked. Had that been a joke? Or was the alien making a simple statement of fact? It might mean something more to the aliens, to their way of thinking, than it did to the humans listening to it.

He took a breath. “Space is immense,” he said. “There is room for both of our races to grow and thrive. You would gain more by working with us and trading with us than you would gain from fighting with us. Take us with you, let us talk to our people, and we can convince them to talk properly.”

The alien shivered, very slightly. “It will be considered,” it said. “They will debate it.”

Jill smiled. “How does your government work?”

“All talk,” the alien said. “All decide.”

“You said that before,” Henry said. He rose to his feet and started to pace the cell. “But how does it work?”

“All talk,” the alien repeated. “All decide.”

Henry scowled, then peered into the murky water, catching sight of a handful of strange-looking fish as they swam past. The sight reminded him of fishing in the Scottish Highlands, one of the few memories he had that weren’t tainted by the media or gold-diggers. Fish had swum in schools, if he recalled correctly, making their way through the water until they were caught by humans…

He stopped dead. Did the aliens swim in schools?

Communism had never worked — for humans. There was plenty of evidence that proved communism was nothing more than a repulsive historical nightmare — for humans. The communists eventually needed to create tools of coercion to make people behave, which in turn eventually created a dictator or a dictatorship of the party, of those judged ideologically sound enough to hold power. Or it simply fell apart, if done on anything above a very small scale. There had been a handful of asteroids ruled by communist regimes. None of them had lasted very long.

But would it work for the aliens?

The briefings had speculated on just how living under the water might have shaped the alien character. They’d have access to an infinite supply of food, ensuring there was no need for distribution networks or mediums of exchange like money, and they could simply swim off and find another school if they found the current one distasteful. Could they actually make a government for the people, of the people, work? Humans had real problems with unfettered democracy. The aliens might have managed to make it work.

And then…

Ethnic streaming, he thought. After Terra Nova, the human race had quietly resolved to separate planets by ethnic and national groups. Too many ethnic groups in close proximity led to war, ethnic cleansing and eventually genocide, particularly if they were historical enemies and had leaders keeping the old hatreds alive. What would that do to the aliens?

“The War Faction,” he said, slowly. “It controls entire planets, doesn’t it?”

“Yes,” the alien said.

Henry swallowed as everything fell into place. The aliens had social groups, but they were united by shared politics and ambitions, not survival. Minor disputes could be tolerated, he suspected, but larger disputes would end with the disgruntled minorities heading off to join other schools of thought. Given enough time, the schools would become echo chambers, with members repeating the same beliefs and perceptions over and over again. The War Faction presumably believed that humans were a colossal threat. They weren’t paying any attention to any evidence that might suggest otherwise…

Because it would be forbidden, he thought.

The aliens had spread out through the tramlines, just like humanity. They’d used their own form of ethnic streaming to settle other worlds, just like humanity. And, in doing so, they’d made it harder for the schools of thought to even hear about other ideas, let alone adapt and adjust their own in light of new evidence. The War Faction had presumably been warlike long before they’d discovered the human race, just like the humans who had believed in building up the various interstellar navies. And then they’d stumbled across proof they were right all along.

“We have to talk to our people,” he said. “Can you arrange a meeting?”

“We would have to pass through space controlled by the War Faction,” the alien said. It had clearly been in silent contact with its supervisors. “It will not be safe.”

Henry smiled. “We don’t mind danger…”

“Speak for yourself,” Jill muttered.

“…And we will take the risk, in hopes of forging a peace,” Henry said. “But can you convince the War Faction to see reason?”

“They will talk,” the alien stated. “Other factions will also talk. A decision will be reached.”

Henry glanced at Jill and winced. If he was right, the War Faction would be reluctant to listen to reason. They’d think they had good reason to continue the war.

“We will depart soon,” the alien said. “You will be transferred to a ship.”

“Thank you,” Henry said. “Can we discuss other matters too?”

The alien looked at him. “We can,” it said, finally. “But we will have to leave soon.”

Henry nodded, then sat down facing the alien. If he was right… he thought he knew what questions to ask now. And if he was wrong…

He shook his head. At least the aliens were mounting a peace mission now. And maybe the other factions could convince the War Faction to stop the war.

Sure, he thought. And maybe pigs will fly.