“Eventually the goal is to get back to the Coalition. Once there, someone will try and determine where your species’ planets are and how we can get you home.”
“That sounds unlikely if not impossible.”
“Why? Are your planets shielded by some sort of technology or natural barrier?”
“No, but if there were aliens anywhere around, we would've noticed. That means we’re pretty far off the beaten track.” Dante’s words were so metaphorical that Regi had to decipher them, even with the translation matrix. Dante continued. “How exactly are your people going to find Earth under those circumstances?”
The question demonstrated an unfortunately keen understanding of Dante’s regrettably difficult position. “I rely on the fact that the Coalition has many brilliant explorers, and many of them are blessed with insatiable curiosity. If you put a challenge in front of inquisitive individuals, they will not stop until they find the solution.”
“So I'm at the mercy of someone's academic curiosity? I know you're trying to make me feel better, but do you think maybe you could stop trying to make me feel better?”
Regi ducked his head in apology. He wished he had better answers. He was coming to admire this huuman who had such fortitude despite his medical fragility. Making him unhappy was an unwanted consequence of the situation.
“You said ‘eventually’. Unless the translator is going wonky, that means we’re doing something before returning me over the Coalition. Would you like to give me any hints? Maybe a vowel?”
Regi was utterly bewildered by the reference to a vowel. The translator suggested it was a part of linguistic unit, but that was Ean's purview, not Regi's. He chose to ignore the language and respond to the general question. “I am encountering some difficulties that require me to consult with my people. But our ship is disabled, so I am unable to take the pirate ship and leave the rest of the crew here to return to Coalition space.”
Dante inched away. “Are you hijacking the ship?”
“No! I am a security officer. Why would you believe me capable of hijacking my ship?”
For a few seconds, Dante studied him as though he could find the truth carved in Regi’s expression. Only after an uncomfortable length of time did he say slowly, “Because the alternative is that you give up on your quest, and you don’t seem like the sort to give up. I figure stealing a ship is more logical than suggesting this entire crew is going to get diverted because you're having some personal problems and want to go running home.”
In that moment Regi could well imagine that Dante was a reincarnated form of his mother. That was not complimentary. “I am having difficulties that would pose a danger to the ship and others were I to go to Coalition space. As the security officer, I have recommended to the captain that we detour into Empire space in order to minimize any potential risks that my difficulties might pose for others.”
For a time, Dante just stared at him. Eventually, he said, “Your ability to use words without saying anything is impressive. If you don't want me to know, then just tell me it's not any of my business. You don't have to verbally tap dance.” Dante crossed his upper arms and took a position that might have indicated aggression in a less fragile species.
Regi held his hands palm up. “I had no intention of insulting you or refusing you information. The situation is simply fraught with personal difficulties.”
“Okay. That’s enough for me. Sometimes you just don't want to talk about something, and you have a right not to.” Dante unfolded his upper limbs and sat on the bunk. Somehow that was worse. Dante was surrendering his curiosity because of Regi's insecurities.
Regi left his hands palm up. “May I come in?”
Dante swept an arm around the small room. “It's your ship.”
Regi flinched. Dante was proving a very difficult person to interact with. “My people are very religious, and the rest of the universe has largely repudiated the blessings of the gods.” Regi stopped, not even sure where to start on a thousand years of history. When the Empire had first found other species, they had engaged in diplomatic exchanges. But others had dismissed Kowri beliefs as ignorance despite the technical superiority of the Empire. Those were the basic facts, although Regi had heard exceptionally different versions of the same story from Kowri historians and those in the Coalition.
Regi decided to start with the most obvious of facts. “My people disapprove of the lack of reverence for the gods in the rest of the universe, and therefore they do not like other sapient species.” He sat on the bunk.
Dante considered him for a time, and Regi worried that he might have offended a cultural taboo. “By not approving, are you talking about gossiping over Sunday dinner, or are they burning folks at the stake?”
“‘Burning’?” Shock made the word come out far louder than Regi had intended. He forcibly quieted his voice. “My people would never burn a sapient creature.” Horror filled his bones.
Dante gave one of his huffing laughs. “Then religiously speaking, your people are one up on mine. So I assume that means that your people gossip and disapprove and talk shit behind the other species’ backs.”
Regi was coming to appreciate Dante's linguistic quirks because shit did seem to be the perfect term for his people's general attitude towards the rest of the universe. “They will speak shit to their fronts as well. Furthermore, they refuse to share technology or even allow others’ ships inside the Empire.”
“Then what? We’re going to fly to the edge of your people’s territory and then yell really loud? That doesn't seem like a sound strategy.”
“Were that our strategy, I would have to agree with you. However, I have cause to believe that my people will make an exception because of our religion. I have seen signs of a god’s touch. And those signs require me to return to the temple as quickly as possible.”
“Huh.” Dante looked confused, which was a significant improvement over the pity and disgust others often offered when the topic of religion was broached. While Regi would never deny Poque aloud, he had certainly learned to keep his respect for the Lady private.
“Since the blessings of my goddess have denied me the ability to separate from the rest of the crew, I must assume that the gods wish the entire crew to attend the temple with me. The captain is excited about commanding the first ship to gain entrance into the Empire in the modern era.
Dante twisted his face into a new configuration. “I know you said that your people were not going to burn anyone alive, but what are the odds they might shoot us out of the sky for trespassing on their territory?”
“I believe that if the gods have led me down this path, then the gods have accounted for my people's xenophobic and bigoted ways.”
