CHAPTER FOUR

“I’m Chris Anne and I’d like to welcome you to the PHOENIX.”

The Senfo officers looked around the hangar, getting their first glimpse of what would be their new home. To Chris, they looked like little children glancing around with wide eyes at their new environment. To the Senfo, it was an intimidating sight. Everything looked gigantic to the three foot tall aliens.

“We’re going to split you up into groups,” Chris informed them. “The department heads here will call out the names of the individuals who’ll go with them. I need the following to come with me. Duno, Eria, Foonci, and Meltal. I’ll be taking you to engineering.”

“What about our auxiliaries?” asked a Senfo officer. Chris Anne remembered that the Senfo’s term for personal belongings was translated by the micron to the word auxiliaries.

“Your stuff will be delivered to your quarters,” replied Chris. “Now if the four names I called would follow me.” The four engineers stepped forward and followed Chris out of the hangar.

“Your attire is most intricate compared to the other humans. It is pleasing on the eyes,” commented Eria as she admired Chris’ red dress.

“It’s part of my night job but I like to wear them when I’m not entertaining,” he said. He was pleased that a Senfo appreciated his sense of style.

“What duties do you perform that requires you to wear such garments?” asked Meltal as he adjusted his hat. All the Senfo wore hats as it was mandated by their culture. It was considered rude for a Senfo to display their bald heads.

“Besides being the ship’s morale officer, I’m also a singer.” Chris could see the look of confusion on their faces. “You do know what a singer is, don’t you?”

Foonci spoke up. “We are not familiar with that term. Is that a proper name?”

“No, it’s my job. I put on a performance and sing for the crew.” Again, the Senfo seemed utterly confused by Chris’ explanation.

“Our apologies, Chris Anne,” said Duno. “But what does this…singing consist of?”

“Shoot! I never thought of trying to explain what singing is.” Chris thought it was weird that they didn’t know what a singer did but he was determined to educate them. An idea popped up in his head as they entered the lift. “Vish, can you explain singing to my friends here using their culture as a comparison?”

“I am sorry, Chris Anne,” replied Vish over the speaker. “But there is nothing in Senfo culture that can be compared against the human performance art of singing.”

“What do you mean?” asked Chris. He was now confused. “There’s got to be something similar.”

“The art of music and singing does not exist in Senfo culture,” explained Vish.

Chris looked down at the four engineers who were still waiting for an explanation. “What do you guys do to entertain yourselves?”

“We engage in a variety of activities to pass the time,” replied Foonci. “Nocai is our most popular activity.”

Chris had no idea what nocai was. He didn’t have a chance to read up on Senfo culture. “I think I need to book you front row seats to my next performance.”

********

In the hangar, John was boarding a cloud-like Ni shuttle that had been sent from the planet. He waited for it up in the observation area to avoid the department heads who were meeting with the Senfo. He wasn’t in the mood for an introductory meeting with the new crew members. His mind was preoccupied about what the Ni might want to speak to him about.

As soon as the captain stepped in the shuttle it lifted off and exited the hangar. He looked around but couldn’t identify any Ni on board the shuttle nor any sort of mechanical controls. It was no different than the repair station that surrounded PHOENIX. Just one big cloud that seem to hover around the ship.

“Hello?” There was no reply. The captain assumed the shuttle was being flown remotely, unless there was a pilot here and just choosing not to talk. Even with their assistance repairing the ship, the Ni continued to act secretive. John had long given up trying to figure them out.

The captain looked through the transparent shuttle walls and got his first look at PHOENIX since its battle against the Screen armada. The ship looked the same with a couple of exceptions. The engineering section no longer graced the rear of the ship. Its absence served to enhance the concave shape that was a prominent characteristic of the massive starship. At the midsection was a dark half globe that was one of two interstellar drive emitters. They were situated on either side of the ship and channeled the energies from the new interstellar drive.

Despite its near destruction five months ago, PHOENIX now looked brand new. It was as if it was coming out of the EXODUS Project again. Everyone, humans and aliens, pulled together to restore the starship back to operation in a remarkably short amount of time.

John looked down to see the Ni homeworld rapidly approaching. The captain expected the swirling gases of the planet to dissipate as the shuttle descended in the atmosphere, but they didn’t. There were no buildings or landmass he could see, just a swirl of pinkish clouds. Although the Ni were gaseous life forms, John expected some sort of structures to dot the planet’s landscape. But could see nothing resembling a structure.

John felt his descent stop. There was no bump indicating the shuttle had hit solid ground. Suddenly, the blue shuttle dissipated around him. There was no ground that he could see beneath him but he could feel he was standing on something solid. He looked for any sign that the Ni was around. Far as he could tell there wasn’t anything disturbing the slow moving fog.

“Hello?” called out John. There was no reply. He took a step forward and was relieved he didn’t fall into something. Although the Ni had been hosts to PHOENIX these last five months, they only communicated to the crew when absolutely necessary. Even Jacks revealed nothing of his race’s history.

“You are different.” The booming voice came from every direction. It caught John by surprise. He looked around but couldn’t see anything that represented the whole.

“What?”

“You are different.”

“I…I don’t understand.” John wasn’t in the mood to try and figure the Ni out. He wanted to snap at them with an angry response but he held back. He was mindful that they were a powerful race. They could do whatever they want to him. He was at a disadvantage here and had to be diplomatic.

“John Roberts. We have observed you these past numaris,” said the Ni. “We have one question to ask you. How far are you willing to go to stop the Screen?”

John was confused by the question. “What do you mean? What sort of question is that?”

“It is our question to you,” replied the Ni. “How far are you willing to go to stop the Screen?”

“I…” John felt this was some sort of trick question. He tried to come up with a line he thought would appease but not offend them but his heart wasn’t in it. If they wanted the truth, they could have it. He wasn’t in the mood for games. “After what they’ve done to me, I’ll do whatever it takes to stop them. They’ll never hurt me or my crew again. Satisfied?”

The Ni didn’t immediately reply, making John think he may have offended them. Were they debating among themselves his answer? Were they changing their minds about helping him?

“You may go.”

“What? That’s it? That’s why you brought me down here, to ask me one question?”

The Ni never replied to the captain. The shuttle rematerialized around him and took him back to the PHOENIX. The whole discussed the captain’s answer among themselves.

“The humans are an inconsistent species.”

“Agreed. Their actions cannot be anticipated.”

“Which is why we have selected one to be their representative.”

“His actions will determine whether the species is worthy.”

“We may be erroneous in our assertion.”

“It is all we can do. We will proceed as planned.”

“So be it.”

********

That night, on the eve of the PHOENIX’s launch, humans and aliens gathered at The Lounge to see a performance by Chris Anne. The Onixins and Quix who lived on the ship for the past few months had become accustomed to the human’s method of artistic expression. But this would be the Senfo’s first exposure to a musical performance. Chris reserved seats for all thirty of them to ensure they had their first exposure to music together.

As the four Senfo engineers got settled at their table, a Quix approached them. “May I take this empty seat?”

This was the Senfo’s first up close look at a Quix. Her presence was intimidating. The Quix’s seven foot stature towered over the diminutive three foot Senfo. Out of the three engineers, only Eria had met a Quix back at the Senfo homeworld.

She was the first to get past her intimidation. “We are the only ones at this table. You may take the chair.”

Instead of taking the chair, the Quix sat down with the Senfo. “I have not interacted with your species and would like to use this opportunity to engage with you. I am Unarnu Korifluxinina, lead science officer of this vessel.”

“Korifl…” The engineers looked at one another as they tried to pronounce the Quix’s name but were having difficulty.

Korifluxinina recognized they were having trouble and interjected. “You may address me by my protectorate title, Unarnu.”

“We mean no disrespect in our inability to pronounce your name,” apologized Foonci.

“It is not necessary,” replied Korifluxinina. “Many of the crew have trouble pronouncing our names and have elected to address those of my species by our protectorate titles.”

“Then we will do the same, Unarnu,” said Meltal. He looked over and saw an empty table in the front and center of The Lounge. “Why is that table empty?”

“I have been told that is where the captain sits,” explained Korifluxinina. “However, he has not come to any performances of Chris Anne in many…months.” The Quix had to catch herself from using her species measurements of time. In order to standardize processes among all the alien crew members, it was decided they would learn human metrics.

“Months?” Eria thought for a moment. “That would mean jujamixe. That is a long time.”

“So you have witnessed this human form of art?” asked Duno as he adjusted his hat.

“Yes,” answered Korifluxinina as her body vibrated. “Human music can be quite disconcerting at times. I have learned to appreciate it for what it is. If the sounds do not please your senses, I recommend focusing on the movements of Chris Anne.”

“Movements?” asked Meltal.

“Chris Anne combines vocal inflections with a choreographed movement of his body,” explained Korifluxinina. “The combination of the two complement each other. If you can listen and observe his movements it will maximize his performance effect on you.”

“We will take your advisement under consideration,” as Foonci tipped his hat towards Korifluxinina in a sign of respect.

As the Senfo engineers and Quix science officer continued to talk, Julie was sitting back at the bar watching them. She was happy to see the Senfo were settling in their new home and interacting with the now multi-species crew. The threat of the Screen had allowed the aliens to focus on working together to get the ship repaired and ready for launch. She was glad it had also extended to social engagements as well. Life on PHOENIX had certainly changed these last few months with the addition of so many new alien crew members.

“Can I get you anything?” asked the bartender Max as he passed by the commander.

“Think I’ll do a guo.” Guo was a sweet drink that came from the Onixin homeworld. It was so widely popular that the Onixins sent an entire freighter full of it to the PHOENIX.

“You’re one of the few people able to stomach that stuff,” as Max pulled the bottle of black liquid from the shelf behind him. “Just give me a moment to figure out how to mix it. I’m still learning all these new alien drink combinations.” In addition to learning drinks of the native worlds of the Onixins, Quix, and Senfo, Max was mixing them with human drink ingredients to come up with new concoctions. So far he only came up with one new mix that was actually drinkable. His first attempt at making something new the Gercol who tried it wound up in medical for two days.

“No rush.” Julie looked around the bar and was amazed how much things had changed. Although the aliens accounted for nine hundred of the five thousand crew, the bar was filled with an even mixture of humans and aliens. The aliens were trying to learn as much about humans as they could. Coming to The Lounge was one way for them to learn about human culture. It was also a common to see groups of aliens walking through Central. They were trying hard to integrate themselves to life on the ship.

The lights dimmed and the stage curtains pulled back. There stood Chris Anne in a sparkling black dress, which was complimented with a blonde wig he wore. He began with a soothing ballad, which surprised Julie. Chris had consciously chosen to sing only his most upbeat songs these last five months to keep the crew’s spirits up. The song he was singing was about loss and moving on. Julie couldn’t help but think about Alex’sis, Drix, Donvain...

Although it had been months since their deaths, Julie would still walk down a corridor and expect to see one of them around a corner. Losing them still hurt and she grew sad thinking about them. She promised herself to move on for the good of the crew, but it didn’t mean she had to like it.

She looked over at the empty table where John used to sit. In some ways she felt he had died too. His retreat into isolation made things all the more difficult. Julie was no longer certain if he would ever recover from losing Alex’sis. John had changed and she was afraid his now introverted nature was permanent. She couldn’t remember the last time he smiled or laugh. She’d even settle for that arrogant roommate she put up with at Dorm Row.

There were similar sentiments among the humans in the audience as they remembered friends and colleagues they lost. The Senfo watched Chris perform in utter fascination. They never heard such sounds before and were completely enthralled by his performance. So this was what the art of signing consisted of. The melodies coming from Chris Anne had quite an impact on all the Senfo.

When the song ended, Chris bowed his head. “To our friends who are no longer with us. We carry your spirits with us. Your sacrifice will never be forgotten.” He debated whether to perform this song. He chose to go ahead as a way for the crew to finally heal. It was the right call.

The audience clapped, appreciative of Chris’ ability to tug at the right emotions. The Senfo looked around in confusion.

“What are they doing?” Duno asked Korifluxinina.

“It is called clapping,” answered the Quix. “It is what humans do to show appreciation.”

Duno looked at his three digit hands and slapped them together. He was intrigued by the sound the action made. He got into a rhythm and clapped his hands. The other Senfo followed his lead and clapped as well.

When the clamor died down, Chris started performing one of his more upbeat songs. Julie didn’t remain to hear it. The memories of losing her friends was too much for her. She returned to her quarters to get a good night’s sleep. The ship’s launch was important and she wanted to be on her best game.