Me Ma Supial!

by Ged Maybury

  “Why not?”

  “He takes it everywhere he goes.”

  “Well yeah,” said Dr K sarcastically, “to him it’s the key to the world.”

  “Of course it is,” reacted Kynn hotly, “Is it not the Word of the Lord?!”

  “Kynn,” said Dr K, her tone rapidly stiffening, “I think it's time I told you something. I am not a ‘believer’ like everyone else you know. I don’t believe that a certain Mr Curran McKay was any sort of saint. The book is just that, in my opinion: just another book.”

  Kynn was momentarily shocked, “But I thought you... that we were all...?”

  Dr Nam sighed deeply, “Kynn, I am a scientist; what you’d call a ‘generalist’. I did a lot of work on testing the cold-sleep, we even ran a flight to Mars and back. I got very good at operating spacecraft – all the technical stuff your father would eventually be needing. And since I was in that field I was following the development of the big one: the interstellar project,” she glanced around, “this very ship. I even designed some of its systems. And to my great regret I didn’t pay much attention to all the weird cults ... sorry, religions that were flourishing down below.

  “Anyway the project stalled for all sorts of complicated reasons, then your father took it over and my chance of a life-time came up. And man I really jumped at it. He interviewed me in Australia. That’s when I first saw you. I just nodded and smiled and said whatever he wanted to hear.

  “Anyway to cut a long story short your father’s mission would never have left orbit without me.” Dr K laughed, a dry sad laugh, “As you would expect; he didn’t have a lot of solid operators in his church.” She glanced away for a moment, looking very distant, then looked back at Kynn, her eyes suddenly bright and wild, “You wouldn’t believe the feeling, Kynn! To be on the first mission to the stars! I’d lived for this, Kynn, lived all my life for a chance like this!”

  Then her voice sank to a bitter whisper, “Yes, this.”

  They were both silent, separated by twelve thousand kilometres, a distance that was growing with every passing moment. Dr K pulled herself together almost at once. “Kynn, when he gets the fuel I want you to hide for a few days; get out of that village; and tell them that..., oh God! The flamethrowers!”

  “I’ll go back!” said Kynn at once, “I’ll surrender myself! Anything to stop it!”

  “No!” shouted Doctor K, “No, Kynn, no! There's got to be a better way. It's still almost two days until the Drop. We’ll think of... damn – we're breaking up. Kynn, please don't do anything foolish. My next call will be at...” she glanced away at her screens, “... nine fifteen a.m. Take care!”

  The display dissolved into static as the mother-ship moved out of range. Kynn shut off the skimmer and slumping with a tired sigh. Her head hurt and she felt sick and her scars were dragging at her back, itching terribly.

  Then a pair of soft hands began massaging her shoulders. She let her head roll back onto his hands, twisting up to meet his eyes. Big naïve Supial that he was; big furry hunky guy. She relaxed further, letting everything dissolve, everything dissolve...

  SHE WOKE IN BED, A small crowd of worried faces peering down at her. She looked weakly about. She was in the Women's House. Mica, of course, was not there.

  “Kynn Wheeler? Can you hear me? Are you awake now?” It was the healer.

  “I'm awake,” she whispered, “What happened?”

  “Mica brought you here, said you fainted in his arms. Not from love, to be sure! You’re still sick, Kynn Wheeler, you must stay in bed and stop talking to your canoe.”

  “I’ll be alright,” she said stubbornly, looking to the windows for signs of daylight. It was dusk. She fell back. Two days till the Drop. Even less now.

  I have to do something!

  Kynn noticed Lorikeet there, sitting with a huge book open on her lap, and twisted her head to read the title: MEDICAL EMERGENCIES - A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE. – English language, definitely English.

  DNA - almost identical. Books. English...

  But there was something else, something Mica had mentioned. It kept nagging at the back of her mind as she drifted into a fevered sleep.

  MICA WANTED SOMETHING to cheer her up, something really special to give her. But he had nothing. He knew what he wanted to give her: the Knowledge Wheel he had brought back from his Man-time, but it was already hanging in the Knowledge House. He was not supposed to go there. Even so, while everyone slept he roused himself before dawn and slipped out into the late moonlight. The Moon was thin now, nearly finished with her pouchie. Soon it would leave the pouch for good and She would begin aching for another one.

  Poor Kynn Wheeler, she had no pouch. Mica felt very sad about this. Then he cheered up. She would come right! She just needed feeding up, then she'd grow nice fur and a tail and a pouch, and nicer ears too. That was all the Humans needed really, to become Supials. Then they would be happy.

  The Knowledge House was on a rocky rise, overlooking the swampy land to the east. A solid structure with the best carvings in the village. He ducked under the low eaves and waited for his eyes to adjust. In the centre stood a heap of rocks. Inside, he knew, was a metal box brought from the Sacred Place many years ago, and inside the box were the Old Books. There was a strong smell of bugger-off oil in the air. The rocks were smothered in it, keeping the books safe from insects.

  And all around his head, clattering with their peculiar dull ringing sound, hung the Knowledge Wheels. He looked up seeking the one he had brought home, remembering exactly where he had hung it during the hanging ceremony. He took it down and hurried away into the dawn, frightened, as if the ghosts of his ancestors were somehow watching him.

  RESOLVE

  KYNN WOKE AND INSTANTLY began to worry. The Drop! He was coming for her!

  I have to do something. I must stop him. I must save these people!

  She struggled to sit up. It was dawn. The Supial women were already up, rekindling the fires and putting on food. The bigger babies, called ‘pouchies’, were crawling about on the sleeping mats and there was the usual bustle and chatter. She focussed on listening to their talk, trying to calm down. It was getting so familiar now, this easy poetic language. They spoke to her, kind words, examining her scars and bruises yet again. Something pungent and fruity was rubbed on her back. All the time they talked, sometimes adding a crooning sound like a note of mothering, and she was not allowed to get up and help. Breakfast was served. She was hungry, yes, but by the end of it her hunger seemed worse. She found herself hankering for the dull fare of home; fried potatoes flavoured with proto-bacon, some bean milk, and a good big spoonful of carbo-jam.

  Maybe that's all I need, something familiar. There’s a few things in the skimmer. As soon as I get the chance I’m going to have a private feast!

  The day crept forward. The pouchies crawled all over her, giggling. The healer checked her over, gave her something intense to drink, then three of the women began fussing over her clothes and hair. They were intrigued by her plaits – now quite messy, so Kynn undid them and after a good brushing she showed them how to put them back in. Delight! Kynn became a living blackboard of sorts as a good dozen of them took lessons. (Had she started a new fashion? But they hardly had enough hair!)

  Finally she begged leave to go out to the skimmer. It was getting close to Alignment time.

  Mica was waiting. He squatted with her, chatting about his dreams, while she checked the charge and waited for Dr K. For the first time since they had met, Kynn was annoyed by his presence. She could imagine him with a proto-choc bar. It would last all of five seconds.

  RIGHT ON TIME THE SKIMMER beeped and the screen lit up. Dr Kei Nam was looking haggard and old. “Kynn,” she began at once, “how are you?”

  “I’m okay,” Kynn answered, although she felt equally haggard.

  “We’ve only got a few minutes. What’s happening down there?”

  “They’re all very angry, and there’s a lot of fear too. Apparently all the Coasta
ls are preparing for war; building catapults and stuff...” Kynn began to weep, “Oh Lordie, Lordie, they used to have peace! They used to own this world! Why did we land here? Why?”

  Dr K answered tiredly, “The urge to expand; the urge to conquer; or in this case the need to flee from imaginary evils.”

  “But... but we had to escape. Didn’t we? I mean; the Evil Orb, it was all going to be destroyed. The Wordolord...” Kynn stopped. There was something new about Doctor K now. Something very honest. The face on the screen smiled wanly.

  “No, I predict that dear old Mother Earth is still going strong. Sure it was in a mess, but it was survivable.”

  “I... I always thought...”

  “We need those codes!” Doctor K suddenly shouted, slapping her console and sending a boom through the microphone, “We've got to shut that tyrant down!”

  Kynn was startled out of her misery for a moment. Pressing her fingers hard to her forehead she tried to concentrate. “I... I remember he had something written; like numbers; sort of chapter-and-verse. I just thought they were his favourite quotes.” She sighed hopelessly, “Or maybe they were.”

  “That's exactly the sort of thing he would use,” growled Dr K, “and dammit I've got the whole Wordolord right here in the computer and I don’t dare experiment. He's smart enough to have set an alert on it. I can’t risk getting shut down. He could even kill me if he wanted to.”

  “He wouldn’t!”

  “Sorry. That’s just my deepest fear showing through. Look: I'd try and work through Judkins if I could but so far he hasn’t answered my emails. Probably your father again, keeping him out of the loop. Have you got any ideas?”

  “The camera in the Temple! If you could ...”

  “The temple is gone.”

  “What?” Kynn didn’t believe her ears.

  “I’m sorry, Kynn, I wasn’t going to tell you, but since it came up: I ran a survey sweep over the site yesterday: got some very good photos. The temple must have burnt down during that battle.” Dr K took a deep breath and continued, “And the Supial village is gone too. All burnt.”

  Silence. Kynn struggled to come to terms with this news. The temple; destroyed by the Supial attack. So that was what had been burning in all the various stories that had come back from the coast.

  “He’ll be ... shocked.” she said after a moment.

  Doctor K smiled grimly, “Oh, you know him, Kynn, he'll just take it as a sign.”

  “Yeah, a sign that he's right as always!” The words were out before she could stop them and she instantly flinched as if he had been listening.

  “Kynn,” said Doctor K gently, “I know he is your father, but if I had any authority here I would immediately declare him insane and request a new leader.”

  Kynn’s spirits instantly lifted, “Can you do that?”

  “As Senior Medical Officer on board this ship, yes I can, legally.” Dr Nam then shrugged and grimaced. “But what would be the point of trying? You know what he would do...”

  “My signal's breaking up,” interrupted Kynn.

  “Tomorrow morning, we’ll have...”

  There was no more. The sounds and sights of village life began to intrude on her consciousness again. Kynn sagged on the skimmer’s seat, feeling her face crumple with worry. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow...

  MICA NOTICED TOO. His lovie did not look happy. Was it time to give her that gift? He waited until she was finished talking to the skimmer, then moved closer, stroking her neck under her fur-line. She seemed almost lifeless.

  “Kynn lovie?” he murmured, very aware of the twenty or so children all around them watching, “Come along-a-me. I have something pretty to cheer you up.”

  She looked up at him, her eyes frighteningly empty.

  “Come along,” he repeated, “Let's go a little walkabout,” he glanced around at their audience, “alone.”

  Tiredly she got off the skimmer. “Okay.”

  It was not easy to be alone in his village. They walked quite a way before the last of the curious followers left them to it. Then she spoke.

  “Mica, are you allowed to tell me about the Sacred Place?”

  He was quiet a moment, then he said, “I’ve been there, I have. Very brave I was, but it is not a place for you. It’s only for men.”

  She did not challenge this, just asked as casually as she could, “So what’s there?”

  Mica’s pride was on fire. He was only too glad to talk, “There were huge metal buildings like hills, and lots of deep scary caves. I went in there, I did! And there were lots of technobytes! One of them contains a ghost which only comes out when a powerful elder calls to her. I've seen her, I have. Very scary, but I was brave!”

  “What did it look like, this technobyte thing with the ghost inside?”

  “Like a big flat rock with little lights on the edge.”

  They had come to a fallen log a little way beyond the gardens, and Kynn suddenly sat down. “I'm tired. Enough walking. I... I need to sit, and stay quiet.”

  Mica could wait no longer.

  “Here! This is for you!”

  She looked up, her eyes growing wide with amazement.

  “Pretty, isn't it? I brought it back myself.”

  THE DISC SHIMMERED in the sun, making rainbow colours as Mica waggled it slowly in front of her. Kynn reached out and gently took it from him. She knew what it was. She had three of them herself, THE LIVING WORDOLORD, WORDOLORD STORIES FOR CHILDREN, and WORDOLORD STUDIES: SENIOR. This one fitted neatly into the palm of her hand, as thick as an ordinary plastic plate. The data surface was already scratched and fingerprinted, but she tried not to scowl as her father would.

  The inner layers would still be okay. She flipped it over and read the title: MINING PRACTICE III, LABORATORY SET-UP & ASSAYING, HEALTH & SAFETY CODES & APPLICATION, RISK MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES.... The list went on.

  She stopped reading and looked up at him. “You brought it back from where?”

  He glanced around nervously, then said, “From the Sacred Place, like I was saying. We all have to do it during our Man-time. Very brave!”

  She didn't comment. Just gazed at the disc. “Are there more?”

  Again that nervousness, as though he hadn't expected questions. He just nodded.

  “Here?” she asked. He nodded again. Then her questions came in a rush, “How long have you been bringing them back? How are they being stored? Is there a player? Can you show me where?”

  He suddenly became overwhelmed, worried, and close to tears.

  She stopped, finally noticing his state, and looked back at the disc. She turned it over, waggled it. “It's very pretty. Thank you.” Carefully she slipped it into a pocket and stood up. “I think I need to go back now and check on the skimmer.”

  They walked back together, holding hands, and when they reached the gardens Kynn saw the curious faces looking up from the leisurely work, saw the nods and smiles, heard their melodious greetings. But underlying it all, she now saw, was a deep suspicion, a wariness. She was, after all, one of their enemy. Her heart sank.

  How did it come to this?

  And where did they come from? These mysterious Supials?

  It seemed peaceful in the village, yet there seemed to be quiet preparations going on all around her. Supials coming and going with carefully wrapped loads, messengers on the move, elders walking the village, pointing to things and talking intensely. Other adults were busy in the shade, working with timber and cord, resin and fabrics. Hammering at metal or poking half-made things into little charcoal fires. All the while the artisans were talking softly with each other, consulting on the shape of things, perhaps, or how to join parts, as if all of this was new.

  They were preparing for war.

  Mica was called away to take care of a group of smaller children who were getting in the way. She watched as Mica and Platypus began organising circle games, then she slipped away. She had some preparations of her own to do.

  THERE WERE THE USUAL
small crowd of onlookers when she began fiddling about with the skimmer. She lifted the seat and began rummaging in the utility bin. The rations were neatly stowed where she expected. Quickly she split open the tough wrapper on a bar of chocolate, put her face down low, and bit. It wasn’t so bad for something packed over a hundred years ago!

  Trying to eat without her audience noticing she kept her head down, still poking around in the bin, getting more familiar with its contents. She found a highly compressed rain cape, an overnight survival bag, a flare-gun, a waterproof fire-lighter, water-detoxification tablets, a small multi-purpose cutting laser, a medical kit, ... and what was this? She held up the hand-sized cartridge and read the label: ELECTRONIC BALLOON FLARE. 18 HOUR SIGNAL. FREQ E-2. USE: 1) HOLD CAP UPWARD 2) TWIST 3) RELEASE ONCE FULLY INFLATED. WARNING - DO NOT TRIGGER IN CONFINED SPACE!

  Kynn looked up, glanced around at the curious open faces of the Supial children – innocent, trusting, intelligent. She had never known humans to be so relaxed or 'vital'. It was as if she had been shifted to some new reality, taken out of the shadows. This place and these people seemed more real than anything else she had ever experienced. She smiled at them, happy at last.

  The answer to all her problems was right in her hand.

  SHE CHECKED THE SKIMMER’S charge. 93%. It would be full by the end of the day. Good. She activated the screen and went to Maps, then sat silently for a while, puzzling over the local landscape.

  Why did we land here, in exactly the same place as the Supial population?

  She remembered Judkins on the mother-ship, trying to explain things to her father about climate and geology, and some technical thing about sending down the pods. Equatorial spin? Braking? Fuel efficiency? That was it! They had to land somewhere near the equator, in a place with the right climate and mineral supplies.