Kensho Part One
Colonel Haru Ito watchedthe security monitor as Liam Munson walked off the Rownt shuttle. He waited to see if the male Rownt would follow, but Munson appeared to be alone. Perhaps he planned to come to explain why Tuk-Ondry was unavailable to discuss the Tura Coalition trade. The osmium Ondry had offered was valuable, but not as critical as the alloys the Grandmothers could offer.
Haru had no doubt that Command had asked him to handle Ondry’s trade only because the generals chose to focus on the Grandmothers with their more extensive resources. The idea of allowing one gender to control all major sources of trade goods seemed ridiculous, but Haru would still take the Rownt with their odd gender beliefs over the treacherous Anla.
Munson walked up to the sergeant waiting at the vehicle, and Haru leaned closer to the screen. At first he thought the camera angle was somehow distorting the image, but then Munson stepped up to the sergeant driving the escort vehicle and towered over him. “Lieutenant?” he called to his aide.
Lieutenant Ratos appeared at the door. “Sir?”
Haru turned the monitor so Ratos could view it as well. “How tall is the sergeant you sent out to meet Munson and Ondry?”
“Sir?” Ratos stepped closer and peered at the screen for several seconds before he answered. “Sergeant Balza-Zavala has to be at least six-feet-tall.”
That was impossible. “Find me the records for how tall each of them is,” Haru ordered as his comm began to flash.
“Yes, sir.” Ratos vanished, and Haru waited a second before answering his comm. “Colonel Haru Ito speaking.”
“Colonel,” a familiar voice said, “are you watching the disembarkment ?”
“Yes, sir,” Haru said. “My aide says the sergeant is at least six feet, but if that’s the case, Munson appears to have grown significantly.”
“The computer estimates height at seven-feet-three-inches, but there’s a two-inch margin of error.”
Haru blew out a breath. Munson didn’t appear malformed, so whatever had happened, his entire body had grown proportionally.
“Needless to say, we are interested in information,” General Dafaor said, “and Zach Mora has not yet made contact. If we want to know what’s going on, we may need to go through Ondry and Munson.”
“Sir, the Rownt doesn’t appear available to trade. I will attempt to draw Munson into a conversation and get information on what might have happened.” Haru let his tone communicate his doubt. Munson had no reason to engage in small talk, not given his background.
“Do what you can,” the general said before hanging up. Haru closed the connection and put his comm down. One of his monitors showed a newsvid reporter standing beside a small crowd of determined protesters with anti-Rownt signs. Every time the Rownt came to one of the human planets, they brought drama. The xenophobic churches had any number of conspiracy theories about the enormous ship the Rownt kept outside the moon’s orbit—theCalti.
Haru wasn’t sure what to think about a ship named for a philosophy that confirmed the inability of a sentient creature to understand the universe or the harm caused by that ignorance. The briefing he had read sounded entirely too much like the Buddhist concept of Avidya for him to believe it was coincidence. Perhaps Rownt were part of the tapestry of the moral universe in a way that Haru had trouble believing the Anla were.
However, whether they were moral creatures on the Eightfold Path or not, they were—as a species—terrifying. Rownt shuttles were as large as human battleships, and the newsvids showing the Rownt orbital ships had sent some people into hysteria, or in the current situation, drove them to protest uselessly outside Command’s gates.
While Haru wasn’t a fan of having any aliens on Earth, he saw no point in protesting. It wasn’t as if Command had given the Rownt permission to land. When they had first appeared in-system after a round of negotiation on Gauss-4, Command had issued general evacuation orders for the large cities, and a number of areas had suffered riots. So no one was under the illusion that Command had encouraged the Rownt to come to Earth. The Rownt simply had the technology to prevent defensive satellites from locking onto their hulls.
And Command had thought them provincial, underdeveloped turtles good only to provide raw ore and an underground pornography that made its way through the lower ranks. Unless Haru missed his guess, more than one head had rolled over that mistake. While Haru was aware that careers had been ruined by Munson and the Rownt, he had sought this assignment because other careers were being made. General Dafaor had earned a promotion and transfer back to Earth based on his ability to get the Grandmothers to trade.
Lieutenant Ratos spoke over the comm. “Sir, Lieutenant Munson is here to see you.”
Haru cringed. He had briefed Ratos on appropriate protocol, including using Munson’s Rownt title. “Send Tuk-Palteia Munson right in,” he answered.
Haru stood, and seconds later Munson walked in the door with a smile. Or rather he ducked to avoid the top of the door before walking in. “The lieutenant appears to have given me a demotion,” he said with amusement.
“I’ll speak to him about that,” Haru promised. He had read the briefing reports, so he could imagine that a man who had been systematically abused for as long as Munson had been would guard his titles. After all, they were proof of the respect he had claimed. More than that, Haru didn’t want to disrespect Munson because his work had earned him the right to be called tuk, which Haru understood was either a colonel or a general. From a Rownt perspective, Munson might outrank him, although Command still considered him a lieutenant.
“It’s fine. I’m sure he’s more used to Earth titles.” Munson appeared to dismiss the issue. “So, Colonel, I understand you would like to discuss osmium.”
Munson’s quick transition to the issue of trade caught Haru off-balance. “Command had hoped to discuss trade. Is Tuk-Ondry not available?”
“He is, but he’s working on another deal, so I came to trade,” Munson said, and again, Haru got the impression Munson was amused. When Haru gestured toward a chair, Munson sat without any of the discomfort Haru had expected from a man with Munson’s past. “How much ore would Command like?” he asked.
