The skies of Procyon II were beautiful and blue.
He sat back, resting his palms behind him, looking out at the sky -- the sun overhead is so searingly bright that it makes the clouds look as if they are each glowing waves of white flame. At the back of his mind, he knows that Procyon itself, the star, is slowly transforming into a super giant. Over the next few million years, it would sweep outwards, eventually rendering the surface of Procyon II uninhabitable.
The Procyon that stands before him is a single blot of shadow. He looks just like the medical diagram etched in gold on the front of their last -- possibly even their first -- spacecraft ever launched. Low, stooped, quadrupedal, long nosed, soulful eyes. They don't have mouths like humans, but still, they speak.
Their voice is the translated, much repaired howling radio traffic that had come from Wolf-359.
Crashing sounds. Chittering sounds. Screaming sounds. A desperate voice, speaking a language that needs no translation.
Help us.
Help us.
They're killing us.
They're everywhere.
Help us.
Help us.
Crash. Shattering glass -- so shockingly human sounding, so familiar. Then the clattering of claws. And behind the standing Procyon, the sky darkens. The clouds ripple and streaking past them come dark shapes. They're black and charred and trail fluttering tendrils that flare out organic flutes that catch the atmosphere and drag their velocity down to something survivable. They strike the ground as the Proycon points at him -- and the screaming gets louder as the biopods crack open and the hellgaunts come swarming out, their blades already dripping with blood.
Lou sat up, gasping, his entire body locked tight, glistening with sweat. His heart hammered and he saw Bea standing before him at the bed, her hands on the blankets, which she had clearly been about to pull off. He scrambled backwards, reflexively -- his back bumping against the headboard, the entire bed shaking slightly as he tried to get his breathing under control. His hands were clenched tight. Bea cocked her head, her voice sounding uncertain. "Are you injured?"
Lou's skin was crawling -- and again, he felt like he was trying to hold two contradictory ideas in his head. The first was of Beatrice -- a sweet, gentle, confounding being that he...that he felt...he was...he was married to and he wasn't sure how he felt. There were times when he had held her lighter than light body, when he had felt her warmth against him, that he had felt like he could have held her until the sun went dim in the sky. It was a feeling so deep and all consuming that it was almost
frightening
. And then there was the other thought. The memory of everything he had learned, all the footage he had seen, the radio messages he had heard. The stark knowledge that no matter how little Beatrice had meant to cause harm, she had. She had caused harm and horror...and...and he wanted to forgive her. But...part of him, he knew, wasn't willing to do it. Why else would he dream about the Proycians and the Lupens?
"Lou, your heart rate is faster than normal, I..." she crawled up onto the bed, reaching out and touching his leg -- and Lou almost flinched away from her. "What happened?"
Lou tried to think of what to say. "I...I had a nightmare," he said.
"What is nightmare?" she asked, sounding nervous.
"When...humans sleep, we...we have...dreams. They're collections of images and memories and sensations and feelings that we have during sleep." He gulped. "You don't know what sleep is like."
"It...is similar to when I unfocus, and let my mind spread among my entire awareness?" she asked, cocking her head and drawing close, trying to cuddle up against him. Lou tensed despite himself and instinctively, Bea drew backwards. Her antennas drooped. "Lou...are you...do you not...want? Me to..." She blushed. "I was going to...that is, I..."
Lou forced his hand out, cupping her cheek. Touching her smooth, sleek skin -- rubbery, and warm and inhuman and so very beautiful -- made him feel more centered. He leaned forward, pressing his forehead to hers, and he said, quietly. "It's very different. Nightmares, um, they're when dreams are unpleasant."
"Oh."
"It's-"
"It was a nightmare about me me."
He opened his eyes.
Beatrice looked...impossibly sad. Her eyes were cast down, her antennas drooping. "Your reactions make it exceedingly clear -- you had a nightmare about me. I am leaving." She drew backwards, turned, and literally flew out the window, her wings buzzing. Lou scrambled, then ran to the windowsill, looking out -- and she was gone, vanishing into the hazy twilight and the small forest beyond.
Lou closed his eyes, then slammed his head down upon the windowsill. Hard.
***
Lou wasn't sure if breakfast was extra stilted or if this was just how his life had been before he had met looser, more free people like GF and Amy and he hadn't noticed it until now. He sat across from his father, while mother sat to his right, and the servitor whirred around them, setting out the fine meal. Jam wobbled in porcelain plates, while lightly toasted bread sent up thin wafting streamers of hot steam into the morning sunlight. Father nodded curtly to Lou.
"Where is our new daughter in law?"
"She went back to her hive for nutrients," Lou lied with shocking ease, picking up some bread. He began to spread jam along it. He looked down at it, trying to think of how to apologize to Beatrice.
Should you?
A tiny part of his brain thought.
She killed millions of people. Just because humans have done worse, for worse reasons, doesn't make what she did okay.
Lou scowled, then set down his bread. He suddenly didn't have much of an appetite.
"Do you know when she'll be back?" Father asked. "There is a Federated ship in the system -- it's approaching Charon and according to the com-wave they sent us, it's carrying Colonel Admiral Akin Bosch. It seems the Federals want to extend their congratulations."
"Bosch..." Lou frowned. "That name is familiar."
"He served with your father at Wolf-359," Mother said, nodding.
"He's...decent enough for a Federal," Father said, frowning. "Half the fleet were Thor and Sleipnir class ships, those were Federal ships. They took the zenith fast pass, while the AnCom and Neopolitan ships took the nadir. The way the math worked out, the Federals took the worse of it." He shook his head. "But Bosch kept his head during the entire engagement, kept his men from panicking."
"The engagement was fifteen seconds long," Lou said, his voice dry.
"Fifteen seconds is a long time for a fast pass," Father said, putting down his knife. The
clink
of it was really quite shockingly loud in the room.
Lou pursed his lips. "I don't see what he's doing in Alpha Centauri thought. The F.S aren't exactly pleased with the peace treaty."
"They have to claim that they're unhappy, for the sake of their population," Father said, waving his hand dismissively. "But past all the bluster, they're not so different from the Neopolitans -- they respect history, tradition, humanity." He nodded, slightly. "Yes, it'll be good to see Akin again."
Lou stood up, pushing his plate away. "I will go and see if I can't convince my wife to visit. I'm sure she'll be happy to meet the Admiral. And if she cannot make it, I can at least bring her apologies." He inclined his head. "Mother. Father."
