Alicia Jones 4: Enigma by D. L. Harrison Read Free Book Online Page B

Granted, it would be of benefit to at least make sure both
sides are non-aggressive toward each other.”
    Ellis chuckled, “You mean them being non-aggressive toward
us.  I don’t think they’d have a problem spanking us.  Besides, I
know it’s not real proof, but they have the capability to easily destroy all
the bugs in the galaxy, they haven’t yet.  Something we should keep in
mind.”
    The ship disappeared again, it was disconcerting.  It
wavered and turned partially transparent first, like… I have no clue at all
what to compare it to.
    Nadia interjected, “What do you mean, something we should
keep in mind?”
    Ellis said, “Well, they are purely defensive.  If we go
out in the rest of the galaxy and kill off the bugs, the Drenil might decide we
aren’t worth knowing, even if we ever do figure out how to speak to them.”
    Nadia replied almost scathingly, “So we should just ignore
them, let them attack every nine years?”
    How did this science expedition turn into a political
argument?
    I interjected, “No.  But that’s a wide chasm of
difference Nadia.  There is plenty left between doing nothing, and
complete genocide.  Of course, we won’t know if containment is a
possibility until we go and poke one of their nests.  Besides, if the
Seltan are right about us being an experiment to see who comes out on top, I
kind of like the idea of three out of the four types of life surviving.”
    Nora asked, “You believe that theory?”
    I shook my head in denial, “Not completely, or not the
conclusions.  I have no doubts we were seeded, and with four disparate
life form types, but I dispute the king of the hill theory, there is no proof
of that.  For all we know, the seeders wanted us to bridge our gaps and
become friends.  Besides, the experiment might even be bigger.”
    Ellis raised an eyebrow, “Bigger?”
    I grinned, “Sure, but we won’t know until we go take a look
at neighboring galaxies for a similar pattern.”
    They all gaped at me, apparently they hadn’t even considered
an experiment on an extra-galactic scale.  I figured if our theoretical
seeders could build and dictate what life appeared on worlds, then they were
certainly capable of doing it elsewhere.
    I added rather pessimistically getting us back on subject,
“I don’t think that ship is coming back.”
    Talmor asked, “Giving up already?  It’s been an hour.”
    I saw his point.  Yet, I had no idea what else to try.
    I shrugged, “They either have no interest in responding, or
we can’t see their response.  Either way we aren’t ready.  We need to
advance our science to make up technologically what they have before we can
bridge the gap.  Does anyone disagree?”
    Ellis sighed, “Anyone else have any ideas,” he gave me a
look, “besides trying to master an entirely new theoretical field of science?”
    I bit my lip, “There is one more thing we could try, or at
least, I could try.”
    Nalla frowned, “What’s that?”
    “We could land on the planet, and I could approach a live
being.  See what my soul reading ability picks up.”
    Kristi tensed, “Do you think they’d actually let us land?”
    “No idea, but we could always go back, and I could take the
shuttle alone so we aren’t all at risk.”
    Nalla said disgusted, “Not this metaphysical crap again,
what good will reading their souls do anyway, tell you their emotions?”
    Well, I figured I could tell if they were at least curious
about us, or willing to communicate if we could figure out a way.  But I
didn’t bother saying that.
    I waved a hand to dismiss it and thought about just doing it
on my own.  She had a point though, no matter what I found communication
was still doubtful.  And there would be no way to record the interaction
either, or prove anything.  It would just be my opinion, based on senses
that I wasn’t even really sure how they worked, just that they did.
    Nadia said in a concerned voice, “That sounds risky, for