Fast Cars and Intergalactic Speed Dating

32: Super Secret Stuff

"You mean to tell me that there are three Chorodonians on board?" demanded Kavita.

She was leaning over one of the control consoles, staring hard at Aialo-El, who was seated on the other side with their hands folded in their lap.

"This information was not meant to be broadly disseminated," said Aialo-El.

Kavita threw her hands up, backing away from the controls. She stared at the captain, then turned to Richard, wild-eyed, her cheeks flushed with fury. "It wasn't mean to be broadly disseminated?" she repeated in a tone that made it quite clear that she had heard the first time.

Richard took half a step to the side, away from Kavita. He raised his hands. "I just bumped into somebody. And I might have panicked, but I'm not calling the newspapers, am I? I'm not disseminating anything."

"I have literally never heard anybody use that word in real life, and I'm beginning to think it means something other than what I think it means," Garth said slowly, shifting his narrowed gaze from Richard to Aialo-El.

"Garth, not now!" Kavita barked.

Garth nodded slowly, eyes still narrowed. "Okay. But soon."

"Listen, it's not like it was shooting at us. Was it?" Richard looked at Jalala-Ko, raising his eyebrows.

Aialo-El translated, their tone of voice neutral. Jalala-Ko responded, obviously more agitated. Aialo-El echoed them in English: "They did not harm us, but we ran."

"Well, obviously we ran. I didn't expect to meet the bloody crab people in the middle of the hallway, did I?"

"Aialo-El, you owe as explanation. After all of the planning and the work and the subsequent flight into space as we fled for our lives, I think we deserve to know what's going on here. Not least of all because you're talking to a commissioned officer of the Alliance for Intergalactic Peace. Keeping secrets from the AIP isn't a good idea. We're here to help you, for God's sake."

Aialo-El had suffered this lecture with the same lack of reaction with which they endured most human antics. Now, they rose from their seat and bowed their head, a solemn gesture. They stayed that way for a long moment, silent. Then, they said, "Please accept my sincere apologies for concealing information from you, Dr. Kavita Das. My intent was to ensure the safety and security of you, the other humans in our acquaintance, and the rest of my crew."

"The rest of your crew," echoed Richard. "So no one else knows?" He looked at Jalala-Ko—they had certainly not expected to meet Chorodonians onboard—but how could the crabs have been a secret from everyone?

"Only I and my First Officer were aware of the Chorodonians' presence on the Beyma," Aialo-El explained. "This was intentional. The fewer Karra who knew of their presence here, the fewer people there were at risk of exposing this secret. For our own safety as well as the Chorodonians' safety, secrecy was of the utmost importance."

Garth shrugged a shoulder. "Classic," he said. "If you don't know super secret stuff, you can't blab about it when you break under torture."

"Oh, for God's sake," Richard said.

"I'm just saying! It's a tried-and-true trope, Richard. We should all be thanking them."

"You wouldn't be saying that if it'd been you wetting your pants running from a surprise crab. And you don't get to talk the talk about secrecy any more after keeping your mother fully informed about RiGarTek."

Kavita cut in, ignoring the men's bickering. "So only a couple people knew that they were on board...but why are they here? Who are they?"

Aialo-El's tentacles wavered in the gesture that Richard come to recognize in a sigh: a gentle lift and fall. They turned to their console and tapped some controls, keying in some information, and then the screen behind them flickered into life. On screen, Richard saw the likeness of the Chorodonian he had encountered in the hall, red robe and all.

"This is Shashi," Aialo-El said. "She is the daughter of the Chorodonian president, Vaivala, who is also on board." With a tap of a key, the image on screen changed, displaying another Chorodonian. The spikes around their ridge were longer and their eyes were deeper-set, and in coloring, they were nearly a match for Shashi.

The screen changed again, displaying a third person; this one's complexion was a much darker red. "The third Chorodonian passenger is Wessona. She is a former ambassador of the Chorodonian Democratic State. They are all dissidents who spoke out against the rise of the Chorodonian military state. When Vaivala was deposed, she was nearly executed. Wessona engineered an escape and sought contact with Karran allies."

Kavita's featured had softened. She still looked angry, but she was clearly absorbing the story.

Aialo-El continued. "We were harboring these people, who are refugees like ourselves, on the Beyma space station when we were attacked and forced to flee into space for our lives. We have kept them with us throughout our flight to ensure their safety. Were the other Chorodonians to learn of Vaivala's presence here, or that of the others, we would all have been in greater danger. Alas, I fear that they have their suspicions, as evidenced by their pursuit."

"So the other Chorodonians," Richard said. "They aren't just after you."

"Had we simply been Karran refugees, it is unlikely the Chorodonians would have followed us through space for as long and as far as they have," Ol-Maran said solemnly. They had been hovering on the outskirts of the conversation thus far, quietly translating for the other Karra present. Now, they gestured to the screen displaying Wessona's chitinous face. For a crab person, she looked rather distinguished to Richard—definitely a person cut out for statecraft.

Ol-Maran continued; Aialo-El quietly translated, their Karran a soft undercurrent to the conversation. "We carry passengers who are precious to the near-nonexistent Chorodonian democratic cause and who would therefore be immensely useful to the Chorodonian Empire."

"More useful dead than alive," said Garth grimly.

"Garth," Kavita said. Her scowl had completely dissolved by now, replaced with an expression of deep concern Richard recognized, because he'd seen it any time she spoke of the Karra's plight. "Please. That's awful."

"It is true," said Aialo-El. "Vaivala, her daughter, and her ambassador represent an old reign that has fallen, but it is one that might be reinstated, were they to be returned to power. They still have an active network of allies and supporters, not only among the Chorodonians who are now subjects of the military state, but among other species and nations. It is their goal to restore their people to liberty and self-rule."

Ol-Maran added, "It is therefore critical that we keep these Chorodonians safe and ensure they are not discovered."

"Well." Richard put his hands into his pockets. "Don't worry about us, mate. We'll keep it hush hush. Not like we've got anybody to tell, anyway."

Garth said, "He's right. And now that we know they're hiding onboard—and if you're sure, like, really sure that they aren't going to kill us—they might as well come hang out with us. Right? I don't know what they've been doing this whole time, but it's got to be cramped if they're just rattling around in a dorm room."

"They have been confined to a family suite in the secondary residential wing," Aialo-El said. "We have ensured they receive food and what entertainment we can offer to nourish their mental well-being, but the options are not extensive without revealing their existence."

"Well, let's go get 'em. I want to meet them, and we can teach them to play ashastanr dice." Garth nudged Ol-Maran, who swayed, then looked down at Garth's elbow, their tentacles curving inquisitively toward the offending joint.

"I will speak with them," they said. "Perhaps we might share a meal and make introductions."