“Sixteen. Almost. Why?”
“I didn’t realize that you are still a child. How long do your people live?”
“I am not a child!” Sah Lee scowled at Touren. “We live until about forty. Some of the elders live as old as fifty. How old are you?”
“I won’t tell you yet. How old will you be when you are full grown?”
“I’ll stop growing when I am twenty one or twenty two. Why all these questions?”
“When you get to twenty two, would you like to stop getting older, so you never grow old?”
Sah Lee said derisively, “We have legends, fairy stories, about a fountain of youth Sometimes it’s deep in the northern forest, sometimes it’s in the southern desert. Don’t tell me, it’s somewhere in space!”
Smiling, Touren said, “No, we haven’t found the fountain of youth, but we have something like it. Aging isn’t inevitable, it’s because when the cells in your in your body get old, they start making mistakes. It’s not difficult to fix them so they don’t make the mistakes, and when that’s done, you don’t get old.”
“Are you serious? So how old are you?”
“Yes, I’m serious. I have lived for just over twenty-two thousand years, so spending a few weeks, months, years or even decades with you isn’t a big fraction of my life. If you piss me off though, you’re on your own.”
“Twenty-two thousand years old? Come on, be serious. How old are you really?”
“I said you had a lot to learn. Just take my word for it, I don’t mind how long I stay with you. Talking of what you’ve got to learn, I’d like you to start a program of education. It’s optional of course, but a good basic education for a post-emergent citizen will help you make your way through your future life.”
“It sounds like a good idea, but I don’t read very well. I don’t have the patience for it.”
“That’s all right, you won't need to read. I’ll start you on a screen, when you’ve got your own AI you can learn in virtual reality. That’s a much better way to do it.”
“You keep using words I don’t understand! What’s a screen? And ee-aye? And verging real… whatever?”
“It’s AI and virtual reality. Don’t worry about that, you’ll learn soon enough.”
Chapter Twenty Four
Primer
Touren led the way out of the room. “Follow me.”
“Where are we going?”
“Our new home for a while.”
Sah Lee thought they would be living in the room they were in but followed without question. They walked out into a corridor three meters wide and three meters high. The floor and walls were the same pale gray as the room they had been in, the ceiling glowed with a slightly yellow light which gave uniform, shadow-less illumination. The floor was the same as in the room, slightly yielding to Sah Lee’s feet in her new, thin leather moccasins. She stopped to examine the wall to see what it was made of. Touren hadn’t noticed her stop and walked on without her. Sah Lee pushed at the wall with the claw on her right index finger. It felt like it was giving slightly, but when she moved her claw away, it left no mark. She pushed harder but there was still no mark. She tried scratching the wall but although it felt like her claws were digging in and making grooves, there were no tracks left behind them and the surface was remained perfectly smooth.
Still examining the wall closely for any sign of a mark, Sah Lee reached back over her shoulder and pulled her knife from its sheath to see if she could make a mark with it. A quiet cough came from behind her and she whirled round dropping into a crouch ready to defend herself. Touren stood watching her with crossed arms.
Sah Lee slowly stood upright and realized that what she had been doing was not very polite. “Sorry, I was trying to see what it is made of. It looks like stone, but it isn’t. It feels like wood, but I can’t scratch it.”
“You only have to ask Sah Lee. There are no secrets here. Anything you want to know, you will be told.”
“Oh. Right. Well, what is the wall made of?”
“It’s called a smart material. The stuff that the People have is very versatile, so the walls and floor, almost everything in the ship, including the shoulder harness for your knife and the clothes you’re wearing, are all made from the same stuff.”
Giving her a condescending smirk, Sah Lee said “I think you’ve got that wrong Touren, they are all completely different from each other. You’ve got a bit muddled up there. Come on, where were we going?”
Touren tilted her head slightly to one side and stared at Sah Lee for a moment, then breathing out heavily through her nose, turned and led the way again. This time Sah Lee followed obediently with a trace of a smile still on her lips at Touren’s foolishness.
About one hundred and fifty meters from the room they had occupied, Touren led Sah Lee to the wall on the left and stopped. Sah Lee could see an outline on the wall the size and shape of a door.
“These are our quarters, our living area, while we are on the ship. In future, when you walk up to the door it will open for you without you needing to do anything.” As she stopped speaking, part of the wall slid back, and a doorway appeared in the wall. “Follow me.”
Sah Lee did as she was told and followed her into the room. At first glance, it looked to Sah Lee to be the same as the previous room they were in. The same gray floor and walls, the same diffuse yellowish light. The only difference was the furniture. The room held a table with four chairs, a sofa and two upholstered armchairs arranged around a low table. All the furniture was the same pale gray as the walls and floor.
“Why didn’t we stay where we were?” asked Sah Lee.
Not answering, Touren pointed to the outline of a door on the wall opposite the door they had entered through. “That leads to a hallway which has doors to your and my rooms. They both have washrooms attached. If we find we need more room, Ker Din Ser Forn said we can add as much as we like.”
“Washroom? I’ve always bathed in a water hole. After we’ve filled our water bottles, obviously. Is that where I fill my water bottle? And why do I have a room for me? Won’t we both sleep in here?”
“Today, I’m going to show you how we will be living here and how to use a screen, so you can start learning about life as a post emergent.”
Over the next few days Sah Lee learned how to use the washroom, shower and toilet. Touren started to take her for a daily run in the ship’s corridors but could not run for as long as she could, so after two days, Sah Lee went by herself. At first Sah Lee decided to explore and instead of running in a straight line, turning around and running back, she took random turns at intersections with other corridors. All the corridors were identical, with the outlines of doors along them at irregular intervals. She tried several doors, some opened for her, but all led into empty rooms. Other doors would not open. Whenever Sah Lee took the random turns, she somehow always ended back at her and Touren’s quarters, marked by the light above the door slowly pulsing.
As well as instruction on how to live on the ship, Touren showed her how to use the screen, and she started to learn basic arithmetic, algebra and logic. The elegance of the mathematics and the beauty and symmetry of the logic so engaged Sah Lee that her learning progressed rapidly.
The days passed quickly in the routine of running in the morning and the rest of the day learning on the screen. Each day ended with Touren giving Sah Lee a short lesson in a stretching and exercise regime that didn’t need any equipment and a short massage to finish.
The exercises loosened any muscles that had tightened up from sitting working at the screen, and the physical contact brought the two of them closer together.
The days passed quickly and on the twenty fourth day, as soon as Sah Lee returned from a run, Touren told her to shower and change into fresh clothes.
“Why?” Sah Lee asked.
“I have spoken to my colleague, Bekkreshan. We have arranged a meeting between you and your friend Sor Tan. You are both candidates for leadership roles in your new
society. It might be best if you work together from now on.”
Sah Lee tilted her head down and gave a sly smile.
Chapter Twenty Five
Sor Tan
Sah Lee hurriedly showered and pulled on her harness and knife. She only ever took it off to shower and kept it within easy reach even then. Dressed in a fresh tunic and breeches from the synthesizer, she rushed out of her room brushing her hair down with her hands.
“That was quick.” Touren said. “I didn’t realize how much you had missed your friend. We are going to use the ship’s internal transport. Ker Din Ser Forn has allowed us to use it. Don’t worry about how it works, you’ll only ever see it on a People’s ship and even there, it’s usually only used by the People. Stand next to me and close your eyes.”
Sah Lee did as Touren told her. She felt a slight sensation, almost as though she had blinked, even though her eyes were closed.
“You can open your eyes now.” Touren told her.
Sah Lee opened her eyes and found herself standing in a corridor.
“Have we just gone out of our quarters?”
“We have moved a considerable distance from our quarters, which is why we used the ship’s transport. It would have taken a long time to walk, or run, here. We are outside a meeting room. Sor Tan and Bekkreshan are already here.” Touren smiled. “Shall we go in?”
Touren led the way in, Sah Lee looked round and quickly took in the room, the position of the table and the room's occupants. Sor Tan was standing next to a strange looking dark-haired woman. The dark-haired woman took a breath ready to speak but before she could say anything, Sor Tan and Sah Lee had drawn their knives and leapt at each other.
Sor Tan slashed at Sah Lee and caught her just below her throat, the blade opening the skin and skidding on the bones of her chest, finally cutting into the anterior deltoid muscle at the top of her left arm. Sah Lee thrust her knife up into Sor Tan’s throat, pushing as hard as she could. The blade slid up through her mouth, up into her brain, only stopping when half an inch projected through the top of her skull. Sah Lee twisted the knife and jerked it free, then shoved Sor Tan against the wall before plunging the blade deep into her chest.
Sor Tan’s body slumped to the floor, her eyes still open with a surprised look on her face.
Bekkreshan spoke “I guess you two weren’t quite as good friends as we thought.”
Sah Lee looked at Touren. “You didn’t ask me if we were friends, you only asked me if we knew each other.”
“Bekkreshan, would you attend to this please? I’m going to get Sah Lee fixed.”
“Yes,” she answered, “I’ll join you when I’ve finished clearing up and written my report.”
“Close your eyes Sah Lee, we need to get that fixed before you bleed to death.”
“But…” Sah Lee started to speak, then she blinked, or thought she had, and they were in a room with a table in the middle. It looked like the room she had woken up in when she arrived on the ship.
“What? How did we get here?” Sah Lee asked, disoriented by the sudden change of location.
“Get your clothes off and lay on the table. Give me your knife, I’ll clean it up for you.” Touren held her hand out. Sah Lee realized she was still holding the bloody knife and handed it to Touren.
“Come on, get undressed and onto the bed.” Touren repeated.
As Sah Lee got on the bed, the door slid open and a trolley wheeled itself in. The trolley had a large dome-shaped object with multiple jointed arms coming out of it.
Worried by what she saw, Sah Lee said “What’s that!”
Touren said nothing but jabbed Sah Lee in the neck with an injector. Everything went black.
Chapter Twenty Six
Meeting
Sah Lee blinked her eyes open, coughed, and sat up. She Saw Touren standing beside her with an injector tube in her hand.
“Don’t put me to sleep again, I’ve only just woken up.”
She struggled to sit up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Touren dropped the tube and caught her as she started to fall off the bed.
“That’s not to put you to sleep, I’ve just used it to wake you up.”
Touren helped Sah Lee sit on the bed, then got her a glass of water from the synthesizer.
“Drink this, your throat will be dry, and it will help you come round.” She returned to the synthesizer and brought back a fresh tunic, breeches and moccasins.
“Where’s my knife?” Sah Lee asked, knowing that it would have been taken from her.
Touren turned and picked up Sah Lee’s harness, which had the knife in its scabbard.
“Here you are. I’ve cleaned the blood off and sharpened it. I hope that’s all right.”
“What? You’ve given it back after I killed Sor Tan? And you’ve sharpened it? Don’t you have rules about killing people?”
Touren smiled. “We do, but they only apply to civilized people.”
Sah Lee frowned. “The Aarnth aren’t savages!”
“You think killing one of your own race as soon as you are put in the same room as them is civilized?”
“There’s a reason for that. She fooled me into thinking that we were allies, then attacked me from behind and left me for dead! Then she lied to my friends, saying I had run away when we were in danger. She got what she deserved!”
“Sor Tan talked a lot about Aarn. We learned a lot from her. She talked about you too. We learned a lot about you.”
“She would have lied about me. And about herself. I don’t think you have learned much useful from her.”
“We have conducted many interviews with the Aarnth that we were able to rescue, nearly two million interviews so far. They have all been analyzed so that we can translate our speech to your language and can tell from speech patterns and inflections as well as facial expressions when people are telling the truth or lying, and the underlying emotions. That allows us to draw out the truth even when we are only told untruths. We know that much of what Sor Tan said was exaggerated or untrue. She was happy to talk about you at length when we asked. She painted an unflattering picture of you while saying that she was your friend. Our analysis showed that she was intensely jealous of you. It became clear that you are a natural leader and seem to be in the upper band of intelligence for your race.”
“Really? I thought she just didn’t like me.”
“She didn’t. She saw you as a threat to her ambitions. We weren’t too surprised that you attacked each other when you met, but we thought it would be verbal, not that one of you would be injured and the other dead within a few seconds. Is that the way you normally settle arguments?”
“No, I have never fought another Aarnth before the demons came. And now I have killed two.” Sah Lee looked down, not feeling guilty, but ashamed of what she had done.
“Sor Tan was your second? You must tell me about the first, but not right now. In case you are wondering, none of our conversations have been recorded. You have shown no wish to talk about Aarn, so I have not asked you for an interview.”
“I see.” Sah Lee answered reflectively. “When you say ‘recorded’ what do you mean?”
“I forgot. You don’t have any electronics. Not yet anyway. On your screen, you have seen things that happened in some of the explanations. They are recorded, or copied, so that they can be seen many times and kept to be seen and listened to. Don’t worry about how that happens, it will be taught to you when you are ready.”
Sah Lee looked down at her shoulder, expecting to see a dressing on the wound, or see where her skin had been stitched together but all she saw was unblemished skin. “How long was I asleep! It must have taken a lot of days to heal.”
“Only a couple of days, our medical technology is way ahead of what you are used to. Although this was the Peoples technology, and that is far ahead of what we can do.”
“The People have powerful magic.”
“No Sah Lee, they have powerful technology. There is no such thing as
magic. If you see something that you don’t understand it’s because you don’t understand the technology behind it. You have much to learn. Finish your water and get dressed. Someone wants to meet you.”
Sah Lee pulled on the harness holding her knife, then got dressed in the fresh tunic, breeches and moccasins.
“Who are we going to see?”
“I’ll tell you when we get there. We’ve got someone going with us.”
“Don’t tell me, I’ll find out when they get here.”
“It’s Bekkreshan. She’ll be here soon, then we’ll leave.”
“Is she angry because I killed Sor Tan?”
“Well, she wasn’t happy about it. If you remember we are part of the Boran Medical Emergency and Recovery Group. Our job is to provide rescue and medical assistance in emergencies, so we save lives, not take them. Generally, you find that most galactic citizens, including Bekkreshan and me, revere life. But you have been through an extraordinary experience and have known nothing other than the hunter existence. If you hadn’t killed Sor Tan, she would have killed you. Bekkreshan and I have both lived long enough to have seen too much death, so no, she isn’t angry with you. Anyway, she didn’t like Sor Tan. Bekkreshan will be working with me, spending time with you.”
“Would you have worked with Sor Tan if she had killed me?”
“No. I have become fond of you Sah Lee. I would have taken a different assignment, or I may have returned home. I have been doing this a long time.”
The door slid open and Bekkreshan walked in.
“Hello Sah Lee. Have you recovered now?”
“Yes, thank you Bekkreshan. I’m sorry I killed Sor Tan.”
“That’s in the past Sah Lee. We move forwards now.” She turned to Touren. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yes. Sah Lee, move close to me and close your eyes.”
Sah Lee stood next to Touren and closed her eyes. She felt the blinking sensation and opened her eyes. She was in a large room with a screen covering most of one wall. In the middle of the room a large odd shaped chair sat in front of a small desk with a screen at the front of it. The most notable feature of the room was a tall slim creature with almost white skin, large black eyes and a slit like nose. The hairless head seemed slightly too large for the body, which had an additional set of shoulders and arms halfway down the creature’s abdomen. It was wearing a pale gray floor length robe.
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