Alessia accompanied Lierva's scout team on a reconnaissance mission near the space station, in order to get close enough to read the inhabitants' language from the minds of the creatures themselves. After the scout team returned undetected, Derstan translated the emissions into Seynorynaelian, to leave behind a record for the Federation on the fourth planet called Eliazan once contact had been made. With the accompanying translation, the Federation would be able to learn the inhabitants' language, and thereby teach Seynorynaelian to them.
"They aren’t a hostile race," Lierva reported to Kiel on the bridge when the scout team returned, allowing Kiel and the others to re-read the memories she had absorbed from a young male creature on patrol around the station. "And as you can see," she added, "they appear to be a sentient animal form. There is a distinct male and female division."
Some of the explorers remembered the Kaltarees, whose gender fluctuated throughout life with the secretion of certain hormones in the body. Kaltarees did not gestate their young in the mother as if Seynorynaelians, but externally, in a kind of gelatinous fluid encased in a hard scleratin bag.
"But the primitive ancestor was a carnivorous quadruped hunter," Alessia added. "The present-day Eliazand are omnivorous, and intelligent, and though I wouldn’t say they’re deliberately hostile, they have inherited a kind of reserve, an impassive attitude towards death. If threatened, they would have no hesitation to kill–and feel no regrets about killing. It would be wise to use their own psychology in our first encounter.”
“How so?” Kiel asked.
"I know we’re not supposed to use our abilities to threaten alien cultures,” she replied, in a cool, logical tone, no longer worrying about what he thought of her temerity, “but we must present ourselves as formidable adversaries if they’re ever going to accept us and welcome our Federation. They understand strength, and will only listen to those whom they can respect. Most importantly, they understand a formal challenge of leadership, and if we prove stronger than they are by their rules, I believe they’ll accept us. As if we had always been one of their own kind, perhaps, and as faithfully as if there had never been a time when we were not brothers, as it were."
Kiel regarded Alessia thoughtfully. Her point was valid, as little as he liked having to admit that such a conflict was necessary. But who would be the Selesta's champion? Surely any battle for leadership would require an array of talents to be tested–not only physical strength, but speed and agility. No one would want to do it, though, Kiel suspected. For each of them knew how unfair any match would be between themselves and a mortal race; to agree to a match under these circumstances was to partake in deception, no matter how justifiable the ends might be or might seem to be. But what could he do? The Federation would now be coming here through the centipede hole, and if the explorers didn’t establish a peace, Seynorynael could have a major intergalactic war on its hands in no time at all. Someone had to open relations with the Eliazand; only the explorers could maintain the peace, as much as they hated having to become directly involved in a conflict.
"Very well,” he said soberly, his forehead furrowing as he suddenly hit upon the answer. “As you suggested this idea, Alessia, don’t you think you should be the Selesta's champion?"
Her look of surprise melted into an expression of stoical acceptance.
“If you are giving me that order, then I will do my best.”
* * * * *
As predicted, the Eliazand accepted the Seynorynaelians' formal challenge.
In time, Kiel and the others came to perceive that if there ever were a simple invasion of their world, the Eliazand would respond by defending their planet with every armor suit and small space fighter plane they possessed. But the formal challenge was happily met by the Eliazand's leader-son. According to tradition, the beginning Eliazand battle was hand-to hand and contained within a ring. The combat rules were very simple. The first opponent to drive the other from the ring would be proclaimed the victor.
The Eliazand didn’t seem to mind that a female had been chosen to represent the strangers. The fact was that Eliazand females had been the hunters and leaders of the race as often as the males, and had been even more ferocious in ancient times than they were at present; they were still ferocious, however, even though that ferocity was often concealed by taking the guise of other behaviors. The present leader, Melaca, had chosen her son as representative, for she had grown too old to defend her leadership. She had anticipated a challenge to be soon in coming, though out of loyalty and respect for her insightful leadership and her expansion of the colonies, none had dared to usurp her leadership thus far.
Of course, the strangers felt no such loyalty to her. If her son now won two of the three contests, as the Eliazand expected, he would become the new leader, and all would be well.
The hand to hand battle was set at morning-rise. Alessia stepped into the ring, wearing the traditional ilas costume of the Eliazand challenger that provided ease of movement but no protection. Cut around her legs and arms, the costume exposed lithe limbs, the small hard muscles of her long legs and arms. The simple movement as she steeped into the ring seemed somehow a feat of agility as the spectators watched her move, her gait as fluid as water.
Still, the great muscled creature that opposed her seemed, at first appearance, too much for her to defeat. The Eliazand audience eyed their champion as he stood behind the ring; they were convinced of his superiority, and as much as they admired the agility of the challenger and commented on the speed of her movement not unlike that of their own females, they felt no remorse that she must die. It was clear that she would.
By custom, the leader-son Dirak then entered the center of the ring and the two opponents stepped to the center, facing each other only a foot apart until the deep roar of the Eliazand echoed across the open field, signaling the battle’s commencement.
Alessia felt the uncanny speed of her opponent as he raised a hand and sunk his claws into her arm. He had gone for her abdomen, but her own reflexes acted to protect her. Seeing evasion as her method of defense, Dirak began to strike her with jarring blows designed to knock her over. When the blows failed, he attempted to trip her, to knock her to the ground, but she regained her balance and side-stepped the blows from his right leg.
Suddenly she realized that he had pushed her to the edge of the ring.
Her momentarily confusion and unwillingness to use her power to harm the Eliazand defender vanished. His speed of attack and incredible strength as he towered a foot above her would have bested any ordinary Seynorynaelian. Dirak would have already ripped her intestines out by now and claimed his victory, kicking her body outside the ring. He would have had no need to try to trip her, to expose her vital organs.
She was no ordinary Seynorynaelian.
Alessia ducked under the next blow of his powerful arm and spun behind him with impossible speed. With a hard kick to his back, she knocked Dirak forward. The sudden attack brought down the heavy monolith hard. Dirak struggled to get to his feet, but by then it was too late. Alessia had picked him up and hoisted his great mass onto her narrow shoulders as though he weighed no more than a light sack.
The onlooking Eliazand watched in amazement as she spun around and raised their champion above her head with only her arms extended, then threw him outside the ring without losing her balance, still standing upright.
The crowd roared its approval.
* * * * *
The Eliazand were already bringing a draught of refreshment to her. Their self-assuredness that Dirak would win the contest had disappeared as though it had never existed. Their attitude towards her had completely changed. The day before, she had been a stranger, but that was forgotten.
This was their natural Leader. And to her they would always be loyal.
By custom, Dirak would have to leave the settlement as punishment for his weakness. Alessia, however, p
aid little heed to the expectations of the others.
If any one was unworthy, it was herself. She couldn’t get the thought out of her mind, that horrible self-paralyzing guilt. For she had deceived these courageous people who now praised her, even though out of necessity, deceived them into believing that they had something to fear from ordinary Seynorynaelians, who could pose no physical threat to the Eliazand. She knew there had been little alternative than to obey Kiel’s order, but she didn’t care. Right now she felt like being hard on herself.
She had used her powers to win. Somehow that made her victory taste bitter.
Nevertheless, the Eliazand expected her to join the festivities made in her honor.
She summoned the composure to go, all the while wondering what she was doing. She had compromised her beliefs to win, and it was going to take a while to recover from that.
* * * * *
The explorers stayed several tendays in the palace while Alessia discussed Federation foreign policy with the Eliazand. They all got to know the former leader, who made introductions and kept to the palace until the formal transfer of power; Alessia came to know the wise old leader and her son, Dirak, whom the explorers had insisted remain as a liaison familiar with the policies of the former leadership.
After some time, the Eliazand began to understand that their leader was planning to leave. She and her followers had a long journey to make, the nature of which seemed to be some kind of great hunt. Alessia decided to renounce her leadership in favor of Dirak, who had been raised to fill the position as leader since early childhood, to reclaim the title of leader for his family if another challenger from the more remote colonies returned to threaten the leadership.
Only twice in Eliazand history had there been a peaceful, uncontested transfer of leadership from father to child, but Dirak accepted the transfer of leadership from Alessia to himself with much less surprise and far more stoicism than the explorers might have expected, had they not known that Dirak truly considered his people’s interests above his own; after the transfer festivities announcing his leadership so close on the heels of Alessia’s ascendancy, Dirak continued to regard his former leader with the respect accorded leaders of his people. An Eliazan leader was to be respected, it seemed, though most of their leaders died in the battle over leadership.
In the matter of the brother-race which the former leader had spoken of, Dirak was determined to meet their leaders himself and prepare the greatest banquet his people had known to welcome them.
As they left the planetary surface, Alessia had a hard time imagining one of the Seynorynaelian elders coming all of the way out here for that.
Later, as Selesta headed to the neighboring star system, Kiel appeared behind her on the bridge.
“Well done, Alessia Enassa. I know this experience hasn’t been easy for you. I think the former ‘Queen’ as it were will be a long time returning.”
“I highly doubt she ever will.”
“No, and you don’t seem disappointed by the possibility,” he said, thoughtful. “How did it feel, being the leader of the Eliazand, even for such a short time?” He asked, distracted, but at the same time he seemed oddly curious and listened carefully for her reply.
“I think, Kiel, that I rather dislike too much responsibility,” she admitted bluntly.
“Oh?” He said, as though surprised by the admission. “You’ve no desire or ambition to be a leader?”
“Only if there were a need for me to be one.” She amended. “I don’t mean that I haven’t strong opinions, only that I would rather just rule myself.”
“What, and not follow my orders?” His tone lightened; he was teasing her now.
“Oh no,” she protested, maintaining her point. “I know what my duty is and who among us is in command. It’s just that I wouldn’t like to have to force others to do as I wish.”
Kiel didn’t answer.
“I believe that would be a great deal more difficult than I used to believe.” She went on, mistrusting the silence. “I think many of us wish to be in charge of things until the responsibility actually befalls us. It’s easy to be a leader, but not to be a good one.”
“No, it isn’t.” Kiel agreed.
* * * * *
In galaxy group three the explorers found another race of blue-star humanoids on the planet Alliar, only the second known to exist in over two hundred thousand true humanoid species. The Alliar-na had become bald over years of evolution, and were thinner and more angular looking bi-ped humanoids than Seynorynaelians.
Their advanced society had reached a stage in technology that enabled them to make manned flights to the closest star–a yellow-white star two and a half light years away. The Alliar-na had terraformed two other satellites in their own solar system and established colonies, but they had thought themselves alone in the universe, since no transmissions of intelligent life had yet reached them. The arrival of the Seynorynaelians took their world by surprise, as did the fact that the creatures were similar to themselves, but most of the peaceful Alliar-na welcomed the strangers, especially after Alliar-na scientists returned from the tour of Selesta.
Namba Ill Leh-di, one of the leading Alliar-na scientists, remained on board for nearly a year and sent information to his people about the vast territories the Seynorynaelian Federation had discovered. Understanding that with their level of technology, the Seynorynaelians could have easily destroyed the Alliar-na had their intentions been hostile, the scientist Namba managed to persuade his fellow scientists to consider the Seynorynaelian proposal.
Namba learned to speak rudimentary Seynorynaelian in the time he spent on board the Selesta. Much of the time he was permitted to spend with Gerryls and Vala in the laboratories, learning selected techniques of Seynorynaelian science. In that time, Gerryls created a cure for a rare skin disease that afflicted many Alliar-na, called gidhda, that dealt its sufferers a slow painful death, a death that lingered as long as five Seynorynaelian years.
Alessia enjoyed her particular assignment, to teach Namba about alien biologies he had never known, and about alien species of organisms resembling the Seynorynaelian categories of "plants" and "animals". She took him to the gardens and to Gerryls' various collection displays and to see the wild creatures they had taken, the old or sick members of species that had been left for dead but found, cured, and transported for future Federation observation whenever the explorers returned home.
The sixth generation squag from Elter-ya5 fascinated Namba immensely, not for its hunting skill, but for the beautiful vibrant colors the chameleon's fur had adapted to camouflage itself from predators in the great Forest of Colors. The "plants" of Elter-ya5 had grown as tall as Seynorynaelian trees but had no bark. At the top of their waxy green stalks grew a collage of all the rainbow colors, great canopies of leaves like water basins and parasols that attracted the erghs, creatures that spread their seedlings.
One afternoon shortly before Namba prepared to leave for his home world, days before the Selesta's planned departure, he stopped and sat down on the forest path, under a tree, watching Alessia.
"What is it?" She turned around, gently removing the fibers of the sherin tree from the ground. She started when one of the fibers tore and looked down to examine the damage before closing her eyes and concentrating on the atoms of the fibrous roots, reconstructing them as they had been a moment before. She saw his expression of irrepressible wonder, though he had grown accustomed to the explorers' unexplainable psychic abilities by now; he had been assured most Seynorynaelians could not control matter as they did, but that didn’t explain why the explorers could do all that he had seen them do.
Alessia saw that he was remembering his first impression of them–how strangely muscular they looked through his eyes, how barbaric with their long hair that grew from their heads like the primitive races of his ancient past. Their less angular faces, small, slightly p
ointed ears and elfin features he had found ugly, their large expressive eyes still too narrow for his taste.
However, as time passed, he had begun to accept the unusual appearance of his hosts. And once he had gotten to know them, learned of their highly advanced culture, seen the beautiful images of their world, he had grown to admire them. Moreover, their skin was not unlike his own–perhaps less grayish blue, but closer than all of the other humanoids he had seen in their archives.
He no longer found Alessia ugly. And once when he had brushed against the hair that had initially repulsed him, he had found it pleasantly soft, not coarse as he had imagined.
Alessia wondered how it was that the Alliar-na had developed different organs in the skin that reflected the blue light of their blue-white star Dela. The skin organs also made their skin appear gray, but the Alliar-na had no lyrachloroplasts in their blood and skin, only skin pigments just under the surface. The Alliar-na lived short lives compared to Seynorynaelians, but the Federation had promised to help them build fortifications against the extreme radiation of Dela.
"I was thinking about how very lucky I am to have been alive at the moment when our civilizations met," Namba said with feeling, though his lip slit could not smile. "After you leave, we will try to use our own ships to go out and meet your Federation. Such a union of all the humanoid, biped, and intelligent races will be an unparalleled zenith in our planet's history, one that we never imagined. We–I–cannot thank your people enough. And someday, if the space tunnels and the suspension capsules you spoke of can make it possible, I hope to journey to your world. I hope very much to meet this man called Hinev who made such a vision possible."