Looking out the shuttle window, Mensah took in the sight of the Unity Expedition ship, Swiftstrider and blew out an awed whistle. Display screen images in no way adequately captured the immense size of this behemoth vessel. One had to view a ship of this nature in person in order to appreciate its scale.The largest NeoAfrican warship was barely a third the size of the Swiftstrider. How many of these ships did the Unity Pact have? Mensah wondered as his thoughts began to sober. He noted the dents and blackened abrasions that covered the hull in a chaos of patterns.“She must’ve been in a hell of a fight,” Mensah solicited, turning away from the window to face Karsen and McCray.“It looks worse than it actually is,” McCray explained graciously. “Those are the results of bad contacts as we call them. Our ships get bombarded from time to time. Mostly we withdraw in such situations, refraining from returning fire, unless the threat is major enough to force our hand.”Mensah nodded, giving the appearance that his curiosity had been satisfied. In actuality he wanted to ask the admiral about the Swiftstrider’s arsenal, but thought better of it. He didn’t want to appear too interested in weaponry when he should have been reveling in the tour he was about to embark on.The shuttle from the warship Douglass was a dust mite in the presence of a boulder as it settled beside the Swiftstrider.Mensah followed McCray and Karsen through the docking tube and became the first NeoAfrican to set foot inside a Unity Expedition ship.Captain Whitlock and the brooding first officer Thorvald were present.McCray introduced Mensah to the Swiftstrider’s captain and proceeded to escort the chief advisor to the bridge.“What do you think?” Karsen asked, looking up at Mensah as they walked past a series of semi-enclosed duty areas.“Impressive,” Mensah replied. Considering the worn look of the exterior, Mensah had not expected the interior to be so spotless.Bulkheads gleamed mirror reflective white. The gray floors were layered with a kind of rubbery surface that added a spring to each step. The corridors were wide, long and bustled with as many, if not more people, than could be found on a fairly active Niani street.When Mensah entered the bridge, it was like he stepped into a Church of the Ordained audience hall. Bridge stations were arranged in descending rows, like amphitheatre seating. Personnel sat at their stations fixated on terminals, their fingers blurring across keypads. Most of the bulkhead space was covered with display screens. Blue light panels embedded in the high arched ceiling lent a soothing glow of illumination to an intensely busy setting.“Welcome to the bridge,” McCray announced, extending a weathered hand toward the vast space before him. “The nerve center of this ship as well as the whole of our expedition.” McCray guided Mensah to each station where an officer assigned to the post gave the chief advisor a rundown on its operations.Mensah was allowed to see the astrogation, engine status, environmental, guidance and science analysis stations. What he was not allowed access to was any station relating to weapons. Mensah understood the omission. A Neo-African warship captain would have been equally as restrictive with non-authorized visitors. Nothing to raise Mensah’s suspicions on that point. He tried to conceal his intimidation at the interior’s daunting size as McCray led him out of the bridge. What was more striking to Mensah was the Swiftstrider’s crew. They were all as white as McCray, Karsen and Thorvald. In fact not a single one of the Unity representatives currently visiting the NeoAfrican worlds was dark complexioned. As he thought about it, Mensah wondered how peculiar it was to the Unity people that not a single NeoAfrican approached their skin shade.For the next two hours, McCray and Karsen had taken Mensah to every level on the ship. The final leg of the tour took Mensah to the ship’s library which was surprisingly small given the Swiftstrider’s enormity.Mensah realized why he’d been surprised at the library’s size. The Timbuktu Library on Niani was a huge, columned edifice, the first major building erected by third generation settlers. The library had been inspired by Brookins, whose fierce love of books was unusual in an era when books were rapidly becoming obsolete. Most of the knowledge and literature humans had accumulated were being downloaded into flat electronic pads called text slates around the time Brookins led the black migration from Earth. Current NeoAfricans read from text slates, but had not dispensed with books in homage to their founder.The Swiftstrider’s library consisted of three 6 by 9 feet shelves stacked with text slates. Chairs and tables took up the remaining room’s space.McCray politely excused himself to tend to other business.When the admiral departed, Mensah walked to a shelf and removed a dark blue text slate. He thumbed a button in the upper right corner and words glowed to life on the slate’s screen. But they were words Mensah did not recognize.He frowned and showed the slate to Karsen. “What language is this?”The anthropologist examined the screen. “That’s Timondrean, an off shoot of Yirmonian--which is a very distant relative of Finnish, an old Earth language. Just one of many examples of isolated humans developing new dialects, new languages.”Mensah reshelved the slate. “Fortunate for the both of us that we can understand each other.”“Well, I’ll put it this way, not having to negotiate a language barrier can only expedite the start of friendly relations between my people and yours.” Karsen ran her fingertips across Mensah’s forearm in a suggestive manner. “You and I are already doing our part to foster that relationship.”“We do what we can in the name of diplomacy,” Mensah said, refraining from touching the woman’s face. He stepped back, half turning to the slate shelves. “All the knowledge gathered by the Unity Pact must be in this room.”“Not all of it, but enough that we never lack for reading material on our journeys. If…you come with us, you’ll have all the access to this library that you want.”Mensah cocked a brow. “Other than you, I can’t think of a better lure to get me to embark on a grand Unity adventure…however…”Karsen raised a hand. “I know. Your answer is still no. We’ll be leaving within a week so my invitation remains open until then…”“Your invitation? Not the admiral’s?”“He’ll accept you on board if I ask him to.”Mensah regarded Karsen with a pinch of wariness.“Robert, there is so much to see in the universe beyond NeoAfrican space and you strike me as an adventurer who wants to see it all.”“My curiosity is boundless,” Mensah admitted. “But now would not be a good time for me to go on an extended vacation. Let’s wait until official relations between the Federation and the Pact is established. After that I’ll be willing to go wherever you want me to…pending the president’s approval of course.”A cloud settled over Karsen’s expression very briefly before evaporating. She smiled, but Mensah detected a strain in that smile.“Jolene?”The anthropologist blinked as if breaking out of a daydream. She bit her bottom lip. “I’m sorry. I was thinking about my childhood. Back then I wanted to be an astronomer. I always had my mind and my heart in the stars.”“What changed your mind?” asked Mensah.“Oh, circumstances.” Karsen made a motion of dismissal. “Maybe, I’ll elaborate someday. If we see each other again.”“If?”Karsen shook her head. “Come on. I’ll show you the hydroponics area.”Mensah had a stream of questions to ask, but kept them bottled up as he followed the anthropologist out of the room.Mensah spent the night on the Swiftstrider. The guest suite he was given would have been too luxurious an accommodation for the highest ranking of NeoAfrican officers. Mensah didn’t take in his palatial surroundings right away. Upon entering, he swiftly took a data input slate from his interior jacket pocket and began jotting down every speck of detail about what he’d seen on board the Unity ship. Facts and observations first, then commentary.When he finished his mental download, he encrypted the data, a precaution in case he somehow lost the slate or it was confiscated. Afterward, Mensah thought about Karsen and her tempting offer to him to accompany the expedition. The chief advisor still didn’t know what to make of that offer. Indeed, despite their previous coupling he still didn’t know what to make of Karsen. What he was sure of was that something bothered him about the woman, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Mensah had a feeling that the mystery of Jolene Karsen would eventually be solved. Would that be a good thing or a bad thing? he wondered.
Comments