He shook his head, firmly, then strode over to the entrance and peered down into the murky water. It smelt funny, as always, but he’d grown used to it by now. There was nothing underneath the cell, as far as he could tell, apart from a source of light. The eerie green glow pervaded the water, marking the cell’s location. And yet, he had no idea why it was there. It wasn’t as if the aliens needed light to see underwater.
“We shouldn’t,” he said. There were hundreds of human cultures and societies, even though all humans shared the same biology. It was unlikely the aliens would have a culture humans would understand completely. They were probably equally perplexed over some of the materials they’d pulled from their conquests. “They’re nothing like humans.”
Something moved, deep below the waters. Henry stepped back, just in time to avoid an alien coming up and out of the water like a performing seal. It should have been an absurd scene, a literal fish out of water, and yet the alien moved with an eerie grace that belied its odd appearance above the water. They would make poor soldiers, Henry considered, particularly away from the sea. But they wouldn’t have to fight on the land to win the war.
The alien shivered, spraying water droplets everywhere, then turned to face him. Great yellow eyes met his, almost glowing in the dim light. Henry resisted the urge to take a step backwards as the alien squelched its way around the entrance and up towards the bed. Jill sat upright, her eyes flaring with alarm, just before the alien stopped and lowered itself to the floor. Henry hesitated, then walked back to the bed and sat next to Jill. She looked calm, calmer than he would have expected. But then, she’d been an alien captive for years.
“We must talk,” the alien said. As always, it used an electronic speaker. “We must understand you.”
It sounded more comprehensible, Henry noted. He’d always assumed the aliens had been studying human technology, including the teaching machines that could be found on almost any asteroid colony or small colonial homestead. Given time, they could have used the teachers to learn English and a great deal else about humanity, even though the machines contained nothing of tactical value. But the machines had also been designed for humans. It seemed equally possible that the aliens might have been unable to use them properly.
“We must talk too,” Henry said. He took a long breath. “This war started by accident.”
The alien seemed to recoil, slightly. It took Henry a moment to realise that it was connected — somehow — to its fellow aliens. Telepathy? There had been no sign the aliens were able to read minds. Or perhaps he was just over-thinking the issue and the alien was using communications implants. It made sense, Henry knew. The aliens might know the humans were trapped, unable to leave without drowning, but they’d want to supervise anyone who went into the cell. Henry might try to take the alien hostage.
“The War Faction states otherwise,” the alien informed him. “State your case.”
Jill crossed her arms under her breasts. Henry wanted to tell her to remain still. It was unlikely the aliens could read human body language, although they had definitely had a chance to download medical or psych textbooks from the colonies they’d overrun, but there was no point in taking chances. One of the most common human tactics in sensitive negotiations was to have one of the ambassadors an expert in reading people. A good one could tell a practiced liar from a honest man.
“We settled the same world as your people,” Jill said, carefully. “It never crossed our minds that someone else might be living under the waters.”
That was true, Henry knew. The Survey Protocols the various interstellar powers had formulated had never been intended to look for a race that lived underwater. No one had seriously believed that intelligent life could develop underwater, let alone develop technology and everything else that a spacefaring race would need. Survey ships looked for radio signals, glowing lights at night time and all the other signs that matched humanity’s own pattern. They’d never thought to look under the waves.
And that raises another question, Henry told himself, sourly. What if there are other colonies shared with the aliens — and we don’t know about them?
It seemed unlikely, he knew. Very few human colonies had one ship dropping off the colonists and no further contact with the rest of humanity. Most colonies were founded by nation-states, after all. But the aliens… who knew how they thought? Once they had ensured enough food in the oceans, they could settle a world and develop a colony without further contact from the homeworld. Maybe they believed in allowing a colony world to build up its population before they started to turn it into an industrial powerhouse.
“We believe that all races start in the waters,” the alien said. It definitely seemed to have mastered English. “Did yours not?”
“No,” Henry said. Technically speaking, humanity’s very distant ancestors had crawled out of the waters, but he had a feeling it would only confuse the aliens if he brought that up. “We started on the land.”
“But you killed one of our people,” the alien said. It was impossible to tell if it was speaking of Jill personally or humanity in general. “That is not the sign of a peaceful race.”
Henry shuddered. The alien had died… and its compatriots had mounted an immediate counterattack against what they’d assumed to be a hostile raiding party. A tragic mistake had rapidly turned into a nightmare, with tempers running high on both sides. And yet…
“You didn’t attack us at once,” he said. It was impossible to be sure, but he suspected that Jill had been a prisoner for over a year. But no one was quite sure when Heinlein had been destroyed. “Why not?”
There was a long pause, as if the alien was mentally debating what it should say. “War Faction stated that war was inevitable,” the alien said, slowly. “Peace Faction outvoted.”
Henry’s eyes narrowed. There had been no shortage of human political factions that had turned a minor incident into a major crisis just to secure their own power, but he had the odd feeling he was missing something. The aliens couldn’t be that close to humanity, could they?
Jill uncrossed her arms. “Which faction are you?”
“Peace Faction,” the alien said. “Further attacks did not come. Suggested shortage of hostile intent. War Faction unimpressed. Found your worlds. Attacked them.”
Henry considered it, slowly. “The War Faction believed we were hostile,” he said. “And so they planned a war against us?”
“Yes,” the alien said.
“And the Peace Faction did… what?” Henry asked. “Why didn’t you try to talk to us?”
“Consensus for war,” the alien said. “No talks until threat removed. Threat proved harder to defeat than War Faction believed. Attempted to convince War Faction to talk. War Faction refused. Attempted to talk to you directly. War Faction intervened.”
Henry remembered the alien cruiser, killed by another alien ship, and shivered.
“War Faction is locked on war,” the alien stated. “We must talk.”
Henry looked down at his hands. He might have been intended to serve as nothing more than a figurehead, but he did have a working knowledge of politics and diplomacy. It was impossible to be sure, once again, yet he thought he understood. The War Faction had believed humanity to be a threat and convinced the rest of its race to support preparations for a short victorious war. And the other alien factions, assuming there were more than two, had gone along with it. They might not have viewed humanity as a lethal threat, but they might have wanted to negotiate from a position of strength or even support the war in exchange for other compromises. Henry had seen enough backroom dealing in Buckingham Palace to know that votes could be bought, often for the most surprising prices.