Second Intermission Titan: Contact by D.X. Machina

“We do spend too much time on the telephone, and you know something? We love it.”

–Dr. Michio Kaku

Admiral James Harwell sat in mission control, Houston, not wanting to leave his workstation.

It was very late in Texas. In just an hour or two, he would have to begin calling the loved ones of the crew of the Stanisław Lem to advise them that their husbands, wives, sons, daughters, mothers, or fathers had been taken prisoner by alien creatures so powerful that all the combined governments of Earth dared not fight against them.

He wondered, for the seven thousandth time, why Xú hadn’t detonated the weapon. And, for the seven thousandth time, he thanked God that she’d had the sense to not detonate the weapon. Had she destroyed one of their ships, Earth might well be under control of these giants by now.

As it was, there was a press conference scheduled for tomorrow – well, later that day – at 1800 UTC; four hours from now, he’d hop a plane to New York, and ten hours from now, he’d be fielding questions alongside the Secretary-General, trying gamely to keep humanity from an all-out panic.

“Flight, Capcom…we’re picking up a signal.”

“Capcom, Flight, what kind of signal, Olympe?” Harwell said, rubbing his forehead. Last thing he needed right now was to have to chase sensor ghosts around.

“It’s…I’m not sure, sir. It’s…it’s on the standard ship-to-station channel, but it’s attenuated…I…” the young watch officer’s jaw dropped, and she began to shout. “Sir…sir! Quadtones…it’s the Lem!”

Harwell stood bolt upright. “Put it on speaker,” he said.

The signal fought through, glitching and pausing, before finally locking in, announcing itself once more with the four-tone key unique to the Lem. That alone was reason to celebrate. And then Harwell heard something he was absolutely not expecting.

“Houston, this is Hercules Base Actual. This is a live two-way ansible signal, the channel is open. Please reply.”

Harwell’s jaw dropped. This was impossible. Not that he was hearing from Xú – that was possible, though bloody unlikely. But a two-way ansible signal? That was impossible without technology Earth had not yet developed.

Had they captured the station? Had they escaped?

What the hell was going on?

There was only one thing to do. Harwell replied.

“Hercules Base, this is Houston Actual. Shang Xiao Xú…is that you?”

“Roger that, Houston, this is Shang Xiao Xú Mùlán.”

“Forgive me, but…challenge Orion?”

“Betelgeuse, red five,” she said, giving the proper check code. “Sir, I am reporting that the Lem is wheels down on the moon Titan, and docked at Titan Station. We are broadcasting to you with the assistance of our friends from the Titan Empire.”

Harwell fought to make his brain connect with his mouth. “Your…our…Titan….I’m sorry, Shang Xiao…when last we heard from you, you were being taken prisoner by unknowns.”

“Houston,” Xú said, her wide smile coming through the commlink, “there were some hiccups, but that’s inevitable whenever two cultures first start to get acquainted. We’ll have a lot to fill you in on, but the most important thing is simply this: we have made first contact, and we have been welcomed by the Titan Empire.”

Harwell blinked, and looked around the room. The look on the faces at control reassured him that at the very least, he had not lost his mind.

Shang Xiao, situation report? Your crew? Maj. Nejem?”

“All members of the crew accounted for, Admiral. Lt. Col. Martínez and Maj. Nejem flew a sortie on the Sally Ride, then were brought aboard the Imperial Starship Gyfjon, which just landed at the station. We should see them presently. All other members of the crew are with me, and in good health and spirits.”

Harwell sat down heavily, laughing, as cheers began to ring throughout mission control. “Oh, God, Mùlán…you had us properly scared.”

“You’re not the only one, Admiral. Trust me, this has been one hell of a ride. Which reminds me – doctor, do you have a second? Admiral Harwell, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

“I…certainly. One of our new friends?”

“Sort of, sir, he’s human, but he’s been living among them for a good long while now. Another extremely long story, it seems,” Xú said, looking over at the scientist with a wide grin.

“A human? Who lived among these aliens? My God, Mùlán…how did he manage? Aren’t they…you know….”

“The size of small skyscrapers? Yes, they are, but most of them seem pretty nice, and he seems to have handled it well. And I have to say, I’m not surprised he turned up here rather than Iapetus; nothing there but a communications relay station, or so I’m told.”

“Wait…what?!”

“Go ahead, doctor,” Xú said, with glee.

A new voice, rich and calm, with the overlay of an Irish brogue, joined the conversation. “Hello, Admiral Harwell. I know you will find this rather hard to believe, but my name is Niall Freeman.”

* * *

Nonah had just about drifted off to sleep when her pad began to buzz. She was half-tempted to ignore it – it could well be her publisher, they had a tendency to forget that she needed sleep during the day. Still, as she began to wake up, she recalled that there was a very good reason for her to answer any incoming calls. She sat up, and noting that the ID code came from Titan Station, she answered immediately, poking Dhanyle to wake up as she did.

“Lessy! How are you? (Dhanny, wake up!)”

“Hi mom. Oh, sorry – it’s probably time for bed there, isn’t it?”

“Nonsense. You can call whenever you want, you know that. You….”

Nonah paused; she saw the look on her daughter’s face. She smacked Dhanyle, hard, which finally got him to sit up, bleary-eyed, but she didn’t take her eyes off the screen.

“Widget, what’s wrong?” Nonah said, and she nearly panicked as Alesia began to cry. “Oh, Lessy! Are you okay? What happened?”

‘’Sokay,” Alesia said, half-laughing, half-crying. “It…things got pretty bad. But…it’s okay now,” she added. “I just…I’m sorry,” she said, finally, taking a few deep breaths, trying to control her quaking heart.

“Sorry? For what?” Nonah said.

“For not…not telling you how much I love you,” Alesia said, wiping away tears. “For not telling you how proud I am of you, mom. Dad, for not telling you how amazing your inventions are.”

“Even the daughter-out-of-bed monitor?” Dhanyle said, with worried smile.

“Even that!” Lessy said, laughing now. “I…there was a point where I thought…it’s okay, though. We’re fine now. I just…I want you both to know I love you.”

“Alesia,” Nonah said, wiping away her own tears. “We always know that. We love you too. Do you need to come home? I don’t care what your travel arrangements are with Pryvani, I can get you here from Titan Station.”

“No, Mom. No, it really is fine now. We…there’s a ship here. From Earth. I’ve met some of the crew. It’s…it’s going to be wonderful,” she said, just now fully grasping what was about to happen. “It almost wasn’t. But it is.”

Nonah gasped at that news. “Are…is the Empire….”

“They told Navarchos Bass to go ahead with first contact, mom,” she said, and suddenly, any tears Alesia had been crying were gone. “First contact with Earth.”

Nonah stared at her daughter, and now she began to cry, wild, wonderful tears of joy. “You’re sure?” she said. “You’re really sure? I know Loona was trying to make it happen, but….”

“I’m sure, mom. I’m sure,” Lessy said, and though they were 600 light years apart, she could feel her mom’s arms around her, her dad’s arms around them both, and her parents felt the same. They knew how much they loved each other; you always do.

* * *

Zhan Chat Full“That’s…that’s marvelous news. I can’t believe it. It’s wonderful.”

Pryvani had let go of a breath that she’d been holding since the Galatea left Avalon; after talking with Zhan for a few minutes, she realized just how close she’d come to losing him. “You know,” she had said, half-joking, half-serious, “This isn’t going to help me let you go next time you want to go off on an adventure.”

“Goddess mine, this isn’t going to help me either,” he had said, laughing. “But I’m glad I was here. If Lysis and I don’t get to Aertimus when we do, let him know…this was very close. And even after Captain Xú volunteered her crew for death…it still was going to be the worst thing I’d ever seen.”

“Worse than the inside of Trell?”

Far worse. Once I took care of some demolition that wasn’t so bad.”

“So what do they need? How can I help?”

“At this point, honestly I’m not sure. Probably room and board for a bit, maybe replicator credits. Aerti would know better.”

“Good idea. I’ll send him a message. And what do you need, dear?”

“You,” Zhan said. “Always. But lot of folks do; always happy to get you when I can.”

Pryvani touched the pad, softly, tracing the face of her husband. “You know I will always come when you call.”

“I know,” he said, smiling. “That’s why I don’t mind sharing you with the galaxy. Besides, we’ve still got work to do here. I’m just glad we won this one.”

Pryvani laughed. “I’m proud of you. All of you, of course, but especially you, my love,” she said, gently. “Always, especially, you.”

* * *

“Less than half a minute,” Zeramblin said. “That’s how close it was. I hear that as the Emperor’s order was filed, Solis was already trying to execute his last command, killing everyone.”

“I thought he was going to kill the humans?” Loona said, leaning back in her chair and watching her pad.

“Well, yeah, assleak was supposed to, but he evidently had a change of heart – he was gonna kill everyone but the humans. Felgercarber must’ve thought that would make us go attack Earth, like we couldn’t have figured it out. You know when the last execution was? Almost 75 years ago. You can update that trivia question. That piece of tuppshaka is going to be lucky if they only kill him once.”

“So what now?” Loona asked. She looked across her desk and smiled; Ammer was dozing lightly in Inna’s breast pocket. He’d been up almost thirty-five hours, it was to be expected – for a human, that was ludicrous. But still, there was something adorable about the most powerful majordomo in the legislature, wearing his best power suit, curled up asleep in his girlfriend’s pocket. She shared a knowing glance with Inna; neither of them would ever tell him that he was adorable, of course. His self-image couldn’t take the strain.

“Well, given Solis’s shenanigans, the whip count for first contact is 786, even with the special committee. Oh, and that reminds me, Rep. Dosorovitz – you can’t have her in your seven.”

“What?” Loona barked. “Come on, Mr. Floor Leader! Ped Dosorovitz is one of the most respected members of the True Independents. Yes, she’s been in favor of human emancipation for years, but you never said I couldn’t put pro-emancipation people on the committee!”

“Armac, settle yourself down. Why do you assume I don’t want Ped on the committee? She’s brilliant. Don’t always agree with her, but that shaar knows the game.”

“But you said – ”

“I said you can’t have her as one of your seven. She’s one of my seven. You’ll have to pick someone else. Maybe Blrrr? He’s pretty soft-spoken for a Ler, and he should be a reliable vote for you.”

Loona sat back, nonplussed. She looked over at Inna, who was similarly shocked. “Mister Floor Leader…you realize….”

“I’m handing you the majority on the committee. Yup. It’s gotta happen. Committee will take a few years – no, I won’t call ‘em before the election – and recommend emancipation. Oh, they’ll squabble and question things – you picked some good ones, folks who will think things through, won’t go rushing in with their cocks hanging out. But they’ll find a way to make it happen. And they have to. Given what Solis was willing to try to keep our peoples apart, seems to me we have to find a way to knit them together, and soon.”

“Won’t…won’t your caucus….”

“When the bill comes to the floor, I’ll be ousted,” Zeramblin said with a sigh. “No way they continue to support me if I’m pro-emancipation. And I will be. Wasn’t necessarily this morning, but given what they’ve accomplished today, what they were willing to do…it’s safe to say I am – though you tell anyone that, I call the committee immediately and torpedo the bill out of spite.”

“I wouldn’t dare, Mr. Floor Leader.”

“I know you wouldn’t. There’ll be enough folks in the majority who aren’t felgercarbers to push it though, I’d bet. We’ll talk strategy as we get closer. I’ve got some ideas, sure you do, betting Smit has a ton.”

Loona blinked. “Mr. Floor Leader….”

“I’m already into uncharted territory, Armac, I’m not going to last as floor leader forever. At some point, the backbiting gets to be too much. Someone will make a move over something, if only because she’s bored in her job as Interior Minister – not that I’m suggesting Qorni is plotting to oust me. No reason to suggest an obvious fact. No, if I’m gonna get ousted, may as well do it with style. You said it yourself – I want to be remembered. We all do, I suppose.”

“You will be,” Loona said.

“Hope so. Now, don’t go thinking that I’m going to go easy on you on other matters. For instance, we don’t need to put money into a gorram antiquated observatory, no matter how historic.”

“We’ll talk about it. I have some ideas.”

“Hmm. Bet you do. Oh, one last thing – we’re gonna need an ambassador to Earth. Probably very soon. I’ve got a couple ideas for names, I’ll send ‘em over – you take a look. And Loona?”

“Yes, Mr. Floor Leader?”

“I’m telling this to you, you tell it to your staff – this was the best power play I’ve seen in my time here. You buy the drinks tonight, Representative. And remember this. Right now. When you’re Floor Leader, you’ll look back on this as the moment it started.”

“I’m not going to be Floor Leader anytime soon.”

“Nope. Not for two, three years. Maybe four. Session’s in three hours, Armac. I want you to run the debate on the floor. See you there.”

* * *

“And so that’s what we know,” Harwell said. “My understanding is that the commander of the base, a Navarr….uh….”

Navortchus,” the European president said, giving it the Archavian pronunciation the Shang Xiao had passed along. “It’s too close to Navarchos to be coincidence. That’s Greek for Admiral.”

“All right. Navarchos Bass and Shang Xiao Xú are going to hammer out some details over the next few days, they’re just in the get-to-know-you stage, but her understanding is that they’d like to send a delegation to Earth, probably in the next couple weeks. Any reason we wouldn’t want them to?”

“Well, yes,” Boris Yannaev said. “They almost killed our entire crew.”

“’They’ did nothing of the sort,” said Martin, flipping through the initial field report. “It sounds like one rogue officer who didn’t like the idea of us meeting. I’m not saying we should just forget about it, but I think the Shang Xiao is in a better position to assess things than we are.”

“Quite right, Madam President,” Lǐ said. “Now, the question is, if we host them, where should it be?”

“New York is the obvious answer,” said the Secretary-General. “However, given their size, that would present some significant logistical problems.”

“It would,” Martin said. “But you’ve gotta admit, the pictures of them visiting the Statue of Liberty would be amazing.”

“Should we not consider giving Shang Xiao Xú diplomatic direction?” asked President Massri of Egypt. “After all, she’s essentially acting as a de facto ambassador for us.”

“True,” said Secretary-General al-Akbar. “And given her performance thus far, can anyone tell me of a better one?”

The conference call erupted in applause and laughter, and Admiral Harwell relaxed, for the first time in three days. He hoped that on a moon of his solar system’s sixth planet, his crew was able to as well.

49 comments

  1. faeriehunter says:

    Wow, I hadn’t expect the Stanislaw Lem crew to be able to communicate with Earth in real time yet. I had figured that both parties would need an ansible communicator in order to do that. But thinking about it some more I realized that the Empire would likely be able to create a warp “pipe” between Titan and Earth through which radio signals can travel back and forth near-instantaneously.

    It was nice to see everybody winding down and contacting others to let them know the good news. I especially liked Alesia’s long-overdue call to her parents. It’s easy to take your loved ones for granted and forget that every time you say goodbye to them there is a chance you’ll never see them again.

    Can’t wait to see who exactly are going to be on the committee and what they currently think of humans.

    • Locutus of Boar says:

      The empire has a clandestine listening post somewhere in vicinity of Earth that can probably communicate FTL with Titan Station and relay to Earth via VHF or whatever JTSA is using in 2155.

      • Arbon says:

        I /think/ I remember it being somewhere on mars, pointed out during Neil’s trial in physics when it was revealed that human probes on mars had already attempted first contact by getting too close to that base, and the empire’s response was to disable the rover to ensure no contact was made. Unless I’m mis-remembering things then the installations on mars should still be there.

        • faeriehunter says:

          OpenHighHat mentioned in a comment for chapter eleven that the monitoring post on Mars was eventually disassembled because of human advancement. D.X. Machina then responded by saying that sometime before that, the satellite that the Empire used to have in Earth orbit was retrieved. And in the first chapter of this story Kir mentioned that they had cleared out of Jupiter’s moon Europa.

          So with all the pulling back that the Empire has been doing I find it unlikely that they left any equipment near Earth (unless it was by accident), let alone a listening post. Too much risk of discovery.

          By the way, a radio signal would have a noticable delay even if there was an Empire communicator no further than the moon. It takes more than a second for a radio signal to reach Earth from the moon and just as much to send a reply back, so there’d be about two and a half seconds between asking a question and receiving the answer. While a radio signal from Mars would need between 3 and 21 minutes to reach Earth, it depends on their relative positions at a given moment.

          • Locutus of Boar says:

            If a civilization has advanced to the point they have functional gravitics then they most likely also have ansible communications communication as well since both require circumventing general relativity. Modulated gravitics might well be how such communication probably would work.

        • Ancient Relic says:

          Based on all of this, I think our best bet is to assume that an ansible can send a signal to any receiver.

          • D.X. Machina says:

            Star Trek technical advisor Michael Okuda was once asked how the Heisenberg Compensator works. His answer was simply, “Very well.”

            The ansible communicator works very well. 😛

  2. Angel Agent says:

    I think there are better picks than Sorcha if you go for a hybrid I think the best pick if going for a hybrid is Odin Tarsuss not much younger than Sorcha has his mom and dad outlook on humans and mostly there smarts and can stay clam much better than short fuse Sorcha. My other pick Is a human from Avalon and I find that be the best pick over all. Am not really cool on any of the main cast being picks for such a job.

  3. Kusanagi says:

    Loved the emotional bits with Zahn and Alesia, and knew Xu couldn’t resist immediately letting the Admiral know about Niall. The biggest thing though, Zeramblin turning pro human rights! Huge development, and sets up a ticking clock on human emancipation. You almost could have ended the story there! But that last bit was beautiful, I was wondering where the last third of the story was going, but Titans visiting Earth! Oh wow! Can’t wait to see who’s a part of the delegation.

    • Ancient Relic says:

      It is a change, but it’s also totally in character. After the first contact vote, it’s pretty clear which way the wind is blowing.

      • Soatari says:

        He’s not doing it because it is politically advantageous. He confirmed to Loona that this position he’s taking will likely get him ousted. He’s doing it because he knows it is the right thing to do, and that most on his side of the political spectrum are going to need to be dragged down the right path.

        It was fairly obvious that Zeramblin has a lot respect for Ammer, his half-joke about Ammer being floor leader someday showed that. The actions of the crew of the Lem affected his view on humans even more, served as a wakeup call for him to realize that humans are far more than the average titan is led to believe.

        So no, I don’t believe he’s just recognizing which way the wind is blowing; I think he recognizes the way it NEEDS to be blowing and is going to attempt to implement policy to make sure that the empire makes the right choice here.

        • Ancient Relic says:

          I read it more as ‘thinking about his image in history’. I don’t doubt that he thought about politics (he’d be stupid if he didn’t), but you make good points. With, and his comment that “Wasn’t necessarily this morning, but given what they’ve accomplished today, what they were willing to do…it’s safe to say I am”, I’d say he really does believe in human emancipation now.

    • Soatari says:

      I guarantee Eyrn will be part of it, if not the Ambassador herself. She’s probably the best candidate for that role.

      • sketch says:

        I figure Earth would want to poach Eyrn for their own if they can. She grew up on Earth, and with her background…, Well some places you’re not going to be able to send a human yet and expect them to be heard. ..or not eaten. Especially when this leads to increased activity on the border.

      • Ancient Relic says:

        I’d say so too. Eyrn speaks fluent English, and has actually lived on Earth. Sorcha’s half-human (which is a point in her favour), but only has second hand knowledge of Earth.

      • Locutus of Boar says:

        It’s a sure thing Eyrn would want to be in that photo-op with Lady Liberty since they are very nearly twin sisters 🙂

      • NightEye says:

        Yeah, Eyrn as ambassador to Earth is pretty much a given I think.

        And I’m betting somewhere down the road, she’ll be awarded an honorary US citizenship. Good photo-op.

        • Nitestarr says:

          She actually might be. I know she was a de-facto member of the military..The image that sticks in my mind is the scene where she is towing those Hercules? aircraft across the base or into a hanger. Would love to see a render of that

          • Soatari says:

            Her adopted parents were American citizens, therefor she is. I doubt there was anything on the books preventing her from becoming a citizen.

          • TheSilentOne says:

            It only works that way for biological parents. In Eyrn’s case, she was born 6500 years ago (give or take a few centuries) long before the USA ever existed, and obviously not to parents who were citizens. However, all that aside, a key element in becoming a Citizen is allegence to the USA. While Eyrn was perhaps a citizen at least in an honary sense while she was on Earth, she is now living on Archavia (or Avalon? it doesn’t really matter) with a presumed allegiance to the Archavian government.

            Disclaimer: The year in story is now somewhere around 2155 and it’s of course quite possible the laws regarding citizenship, dual citizenship, and/or living in the country have changed. In any case, I’m sure she would be welcome regardless of her status with the nation.

          • Soatari says:

            She lived on US soil for the better part of 150 years, and met many presidents and dignitaries. She had to have documentation of some kind, and since she was discovered by Americans, cared for by Americans and raised as an American, it is very likely that her documentation is American.

        • Locutus of Boar says:

          Eyrn was a resident of Russian America at the time Seward committed his “folly”. Indeed reading between the lines she was a primary reason why Alaska was purchased. Native Alaskans were granted citizenship gradually over a number of years between 1867 and 1915. The tribes themselves determine their membership so if Eyrn can get a tribe to vouch for her then she has dual citizenship in both the Titan Empire and the United States of America..

          • Nitestarr says:

            The US military could probably vouch for her. They have her records. Perhaps she could even be classified as a veteran? Even though she did not serve in a combat situation…..Hmmm…

            She could have three levels of citizenship; US, Terran and Archavian. People do have dual citizenship, born and raised in one country and then living in another..More importantly she is culturally an American/Terran being raised here and spending her formative years here..

            She would make the most logical choice as ambassador..However logic is not a strong suit of Los Titans …

    • Peggy says:

      My husband has been steady telling me that Zeramblin is one of the food guys, and now I see he was right! What a blast! Great stuff! Alllllrighty then!

      Good family moments, and emotional communications with home for all. I never dreamed about an execution… Does that mean we will see Solis having an epiphany before he dies? That could be a quality read, too.

      Darren could be helpful, too… Already being in the U.S. Army, they might want him…

    • Nitestarr says:

      He was on the fence with the issue anyway. A practical man with a moral compass. Soo how the hell did he manage to wind up as floor leader? lol
      __

      On another completely unrelated issue….. Pryvani is one good looking chick even in middle age 🙂 though I would think she would outgrow (ha ha) the urge to color her hair….

        • D.X. Machina says:

          Well, Zhan knows. He’s had plenty of opportunity to figure it out. But then, he’s not telling. 😛

      • JohnnyScribe says:

        for titans from Aement, like Pryvani, (and Zara, Vasha, Daz, etc) dyed hair isn’t some sort of youthful rebellion or something, its a part of their culture. So its unlikely she’ll ‘grow out of it’ as from her perspective, there’s nothing to grow out of.

        • Nitestarr says:

          Ahh I was equating with the Terran analog..sort of like the Jotnars braiding their hair…though I wouldn’t tell Rixie to grow out of that …erf! 🙂 (well maybe from a long distance interstellar phone call)

    • Soatari says:

      The delegation should certainly not include Sorcha. Gonna need level heads capable of patience, and the ability to stay calm when things don’t go their way.

      Eyrn is the best choice for Ambassador, obviously. Niall can’t be an official delegate but will likely be there which means Naskia will be part of it. Having her there is the legal loophole that allows for Niall’s presence with the delegation. No Pryvanni, because as far as everyone else is concerned, she’s a ditz. There will probably be a Dunnermac, Avartle, and Ler as part of the delegation as well.

      • synp says:

        Probably not for the first delegation, but If humans are going to be emancipated, then for the long term a human from Avalon would make a logical choice for ambassador.

        1. They are used to the gravity (unlike Archavian humans)
        2. They can live in any city (rather than a special embassy in the middle of the dessert)
        3. They share humans’ sleep patterns

        Because of #2, they should pick someone who doesn’t have a giant lover that will come with them. I think Lysis or Ammer.

          • Locutus of Boar says:

            If emancipation does get hung up for years there is a very real possibility of the empire ceding Avalon to Earth jurisdiction providing a home for humans who don’t want to remain within the empire proper. Anyway Ammer has far more important work to do on Archavia.

            As a practical matter I suspect that the official Titan embassy will be set up as a lunar base to overcome the gravity issue while allowing quick access to and from Earth. Once the holoprojectors are up and running on Earth that will be the main means of communication anyway.

      • Ancient Relic says:

        I don’t see any problem with a 130ish foot woman with anger management issues in a human city. On the flip side, I see two points in Sorcha’s favour: she’s the daughter of an Earth human and a Titan woman, and it’s a possible explanation of the title Hybrid.

      • Locutus of Boar says:

        Niall is actually the most problematic member of the delegation because while the giant aliens will draw initial attention of everyone on Earth the possibility of a quick and relatively easy life extension to 300+ years for billions of humans could quickly unleash chaos.

      • Nostory says:

        That outburst aside, I think she can handle herself plus the idea of the first Human-Titan hybrid visiting the planet of her other race is too tantalising to pass up. Plus right people at the right place at the wrong time leads to a story worth reading. Not to mention she is a symbol Human-Titan relations, how at the genetic level they’re similar enough to create a child that is of both worlds.

        Niall,Sorcha,Eyrn,Darren should all go. Actually all of the humans taken from Earth ought to be considered for the trip.

        • NightEye says:

          Don’t forget : if Sorcha is the first human / titan hybrid, she’s not the only one, there are many others (granted, even younger than she is).

  4. TheSilentOne says:

    Woot. This new notification seems to be working well, at least for me. Thinking at this point if some people still aren’t getting them, then it’s a provider issue, with little to be done about it.

    Anyway, nice intermission. Looks like things are going pretty well at present. It’s hard to imagine what sort of issues might crop up in the last 3rd of the story.

    • sketch says:

      Ted knows about the pet thing. The rest of the crew of the Sally Ride at least suspect something like that. With everything else that’s been going on, I don’t know that the captain and the rest of the crew have had a chance to process the bit of news yet.

      It’s certainly not going to play well on Earth no matter how nice these exceptional Titans have been.

      • Ancient Relic says:

        I don’t doubt that it’s going to be a major source of conflict in this story and maybe Hybrid.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *