Beneath the Floating City collection

by Donna Maree Hanson

  He followed the corridor that led to the observation deck. His thumping heartbeat spurring him to walk faster. Staff and passengers intermingled, a mixture of Nuk, humans and the glossy skinned Lumko. Vo-nam tried not to stare. They had been advised at boarding that they would be taking on Lumko refugees at Killen station, but still the sight of one so alien drew his curiosity. Lumko had near translucent skin, so that the shadows of their blood vessels and organs were visible. They could see but their eyes were under the skin at the side of their heads, like a kind of mutated fish that he had seen in one of the Earth children’s books. He had heard that the Lumko could speak with each other through smells, grunts and gestures. That they walked around naked was also difficult to ignore. Vo-nam caught himself tugging the waistline of his kilt higher. Looking down, he adjusted the sash crossing his chest so that it disguised his central breast. His tail brushed the ground behind him, sweeping the floor slowly. Luckily, the Lumko wore tech translators so that non-Lumko could understand them, not that Vo-nam would dare to attempt to converse with one.

  As he traversed the corridor, he tried to keep his excitement and awe in check, angling his head down and walking straight and true like a human, rather than when he was in Dianur and had had to imitate the pure bloods by walking slightly sideways and with a loping gait and bouncing tail. He found he was concentrating so hard on maintaining his walk that he missed the access port to the observation deck and had to backtrack, dodging a steward weaving through the crowds with a tray of beverages. The steward then disappeared into a private function room further along the corridor. Vo-nam did his best not to peer through the door when it swung open. Voices spilled out and he caught glimpses of humans and others before the door slid shut.

  When he entered the observation deck, he saw family groups, some peering and pointing down to the blue planet. A few singletons stood by, gazing at the view. Most were human but there were one or two other Di-Nuks. The sight of Earth through the viewing pane, drew all of Vo-nam’s attention. He just stood and gaped as he entered and completely forgot about the people around him and finding Li-pen. It was not until there were protests behind him did he realise that he had blocked the doorway, thereby preventing other newly-awakened travellers from entering and seeing the blue planet in all its glory. Bowing his head and muttering apologies like a cowering Di-Nuk, he backed away. Realising his lapse, he straightened up and strode purposefully to the viewing deck. There was no need to observe the Dianuran social norms now that he was on Earth. He did not need to apologise for who he was, or feel the need to make abeyances to his superiors. On Earth all were equal.

  Li-pen touched his arm gently, startling him. He did not know how long he had been there; it could have been hours or only minutes such was his absorption. Her grin showed her fine pointed teeth, which allowed her to pass for a Nuk most of the time. As he looked at her again after their long sleep, he admired Li-pen’s prettiness and intelligence. Her body shape was very Nuk and her pelt was slightly mauve in colour. Under the ship’s lights, it had taken on a silver sheen. Usually, she let her coat grow shaggy, a quaint habit, that let her blend in more with the pure bloods. Vo-nam liked to appear well groomed even though that set him apart. Great grandfather Luis had instilled the need for grooming into him and told him many a time that he was special to have human DNA. Lucky to have it you are. Only the special ones could take it you know. It will benefit you one day, lad, it will. Mark my words, mark them well. With a quick glance out the window, he grinned. It would be his time soon.

  ‘I did not see you, Li. I was so taken by the view of the homeword. Forgive me, I did not ignore you on purpose.’

  Li smiled again, her gaze flicking to the doorway and beyond before returning to him.

  ‘I understand, Vo,’ patting his arm. ‘You have waited long for this. I should tell you though, and I’m not sure how this will affect you...I mean us...but the DNA profiles for visa classes has changed since we boarded.’

  Vo-nam shrugged and grunted. ‘I am part human that is enough to let me get a visa. I cannot see how they can change that fundamental right.’

  Li frowned. ‘Vo...they can deny you a visa or restrict the class of visa depending on their rules. They make the rules and can change them. I’m not saying it will affect us, only that I heard talk and wanted to warn you in case...’

  Vo-nam found his mood had soured. ‘We should perhaps check which shuttle we are on and secure our luggage.’

  Li slid her hand down his forearm. ‘Yes, Vo. Let’s do that. Immigration and customs are planet side so we’ll find out then.’

  ***

  The entry hall at the London Customs Hall was full of milling people, voices churning and the occasional holler. Vo stood opposite the customs official, with his tail twitching and his hackles rising.

  ‘What do you mean that I can only get a short stay tourist visa? I was advised not to apply for my visa before I left so that it would have more time on it. Now you are saying I can only enter if I agree to return in four weeks? That means I would have to leave on the ship I have just arrived on, which departs in two weeks or otherwise I’d be in breach.’

  Li stood beyond the barrier, her visa processed and watched him as he listened with growing horror the effect of the DNA matrix assessment had on his right to land on the homeworld. The official had already explained things to him but Vo-nam couldn’t believe it. His outrage drove all common sense from his mind. Anger was ripping through his blood. Only the quiet words from Li-pen penetrated long enough for him to calm down. He felt the need to reach out and squeeze with his clawed hands. He had waited so long for this moment. He had held the rage in check. All those times he had been excluded in the past. All those times where he was not welcomed and he could not show the hurt and the pain because he was Di-Nuk and to do so would betray his human heritage and would bring disrespect to all Di-Nuk and further shame. He remembered the whispered phrases from his childhood days. Those hybrids are unstable. The human DNA makes them violent. Crazy even. He remembered the shunning, the avoidance as if it was yesterday.

  ‘I am sorry, Mr D’abela. The Colonial Statutes for mixed race species were amended six months ago and enacted three months ago, which means they are in force now. Your visa could not be processed at your point of origin because of the pending changes and you were advised to apply at the border accordingly. You can have a nice visit here for a couple of weeks. The tourist areas will provide ample opportunity to sample contemporary Earth life.’

  ‘Sample?’ Vo-nam sucked in a breath fighting for calm. ‘But I want to live it, experience it. My wife’s visa was processed without these problems. Why?’

  The official turned to glance at Li-pen, his microbe shields glistening wetly in his nostrils. He faced Vo-nam again. ‘I am afraid that due to privacy concerns I cannot discuss your wife’s status. You will have to apply to her for an explanation, although she is under no obligation to do so and her rights are protected under Earth law. However, you will deduce that there is some difference in the human DNA between you.’

  Li-pen drew closer and touched his arm, stroking the down near his wrist. ‘Vo, accept the visa so we can get to our hotel. We can try to sort things out later. We will lodge another application at the local office. Please, I am very tired now.’

  Turning, Li-pen nodded to the official, which was an action too subservient for Vo-nam’s peace of mind. The official slid the visa card into Vo-nam’s passport and passed it across the counter before calling out. ‘Next.’

  Vo-nam lowered his head, fighting for a dignity he felt had been stripped away. The feeling was more than disappointment but he could not articulate it to himself. With a glance at Li-pen’s eager gaze as she took in the crowd and urged him into the transit queue, he felt he could not even begin to tell her either.

  ***

  The transit to their Bath hotel was a blur. The visa issue loomed large in Vo-nam’s mind and it soured the first scents of Earth’s air. T
he green fields that surrounded Bath were a smear of treeless countryside that barely registered. The district’s atmospheric shield shimmered in the sunlight. The Austen complex gleamed with freshly polished Georgian stone or so Li explained to him, reading from her guide book. There were only a few places on Earth that Vo-nam’s restricted visa allowed him to go and the tourist area of Wiltshire was the most appealing and economical of them.

  The relic of London city and its underground hotels held no appeal to someone from Nuk heritage. The trees and open skies were important and in the pre-flight education program, he had been warned that Nuk did not fare well in the dark, damp underground places. Stories of psychosis abounded and of the accidental execution of Nuks, who had lost control and stormed through the corridors. Vo-nam considered himself mostly human, but could not deny that there was a deep, inexplicable fear of being closed in and being held underground. Li often lectured him on his tendency to ignore that he had an equal Nuk DNA makeup. There were also the cultural imperatives from living on Dianur that could override any inherited human traits.

  Li-pen drew her gaze from the guide book when the vehicle stopped. ‘Lo, cheer up, Vo. We will do some interesting things while we are here. You make too much of being part human you know.’

  Vo could only stare at her and nod dumbly. Soon after, the bellbot delivered them and their luggage to a room on the top floor. Vo went to the windows and saw the views reaching out across lush green hills with puffed white sheep standing idle. While he stood there, Li-pen set about unpacking and arranging their things, talking to Vo-nam all the while and explaining where and why she was putting things. Vo-nam let her voice soothe him. Soon it would be time to eat.

  Vo-nam gazed out of the window until sunset. When it was too dark to see he picked up the guide book and flipped through the pages idly. As the pages whisked by he wondered if it would tell him where he could get fresh killed game. Great grandfather Luis had told him that there was plenty of food on Earth and the people often ate fresh killed deer, or bears, or birds. Thinking about the landscape though, he could not think where the game would live. There were no trees, only pastures. Perhaps it was the sheep that were now hunted for food.

  After breakfast the next morning, the hotel liaison recommended a day tour of the Bath region. Li-pen said yes before Vo-nam could speak.

  ‘I thought we should go to the immigration office and see about changing my visa status,’ he whispered urgently in her ear.

  ‘There’s no hurry,’ she whispered back, while bowing her head to the hotel liaison. ‘Come on, I want to play tourist today. Think of me for a change.’

  She patted him on the arm and then scratched him under the chin. Vo-nam lowered his head and nodded. He would be patient.

  The remains of the Roman baths were extremely ancient. The water still trickled up through the spring but the walls and the Roman statues were now replicas of the original remains. Vo-nam found it quite boring, despite Li-pen’s obvious enthusiasm. She asked to tour guide to explain.

  ‘A very good question,’ the tour guide replied. Li-pen grinned and nodded to Vo-nam. ‘By removing the originals and replacing them with the replicas we can best preserve the heritage of the area and still provide the look and feel of the times.’

  With a smile, Li-pen followed the guide onto the bus, leaving Vo-nam to make his own way. As they drove around, Vo-nam could see a few people dressed in period clothing. Vo-nam thought that was strange, but Li-pen read from the guidebook, which stated that the re-enactment was to help visitors to picture Earth’s past, the days when there was tranquillity and little or no technology.

  As they drove along a road, past featureless pastures, Vo-nam thought that Dianur had such political sentiments. That was why the humans were ousted around one hundred Earth years previously. Nuk were rural. They lived close to nature, in clans. While some of the clans found human technology seductive, others found it pervasive and subversive. In school, Vo-nam had studied the re-establishment of home rule and the effects it had. It mattered not to him on an emotional level that the resentment of his mixed heritage was based on the political shenanigans of the time. Home rule did lead to a resurgence of historical backward looking and glorification of the past. Many clans purged themselves of human technology and reverted to pre-colonial methods of food production and manufacturing. In some cases the resentment went deep. So much so that his parents had been killed during a purge and he had been brought up in the human protectorate by his uncle.

  Ah, Uncle Vin, thought Vo-nam, feeling his eye lids grow heavy as the bus ride lulled his senses. Long dead now was Uncle Vin but he remembered his voice. Should have taken us all back to Earth. What’s the point of maintaining the protectorate? Costs them loads and is so unwieldy. Must be some other reason, something they are not saying. Vin often repeated this opinion after he had made his way home from one too many Gin and Tonics in the protectorate bar. After his uncle’s death, Vo had to integrate into Nuk society as part of his transition program.

  Once again at the hotel, Vo-nam stared out the window, looking across the city to the fields beyond. He felt himself frowning again and went to brush his pelt. He was not happy with the colour of his coat. It was dull grey in the Earth light and thinking about Uncle Vin reminded him that he could not imbibe alcohol at all. It had nearly killed him the only time he had tried. All pure Nuk could not metabolise alcohol. It was a sore point with him. Something that made him feel less human instead of more.

  Again the next day, Li-pen insisted that they play tourist. Vo-nam held his peace. The tour guide stopped the bus in Wells so that they could view the cathedral, now preserved under a transparent dome. Clockwork knights came in and out of compartments located in the side of the building. Vo-nam yawned while drinking coffee and eating cucumber sandwiches.

  ‘These are tasteless. Why do we not have a hamburger like him over there?’ Vo pointed to another patron, who bit down on the meat and juices dripped down his clean shaven chin.

  Li-pen nudged his arm. ‘Shush now. This is the most traditional of meals, you know. Royalty used to eat it every day. Come on, eat up. The bus will leave soon.’

  By the time they were returned to their hotel, Vo-nam’s stomach was rumbling. As he had not seen fresh game on the hotel menu the previous night, he had decided that they should venture out on their own and prowl the streets of Bath for a suitable restaurant.

  He thought it was odd that the concierge quizzed them about where they were going and how long they were going to be away. He asked for their visa tag numbers so that he could contact them in case of an emergency. Vo-nam was ready to make a curt response but Li-pen was there bowing her head and shuffling them out the door subserviently. Vo worried about Li’s behaviour. Normally she would stand up for herself. Mentally shrugging, he realised that travelling to new places put a strain on people. His reactions were not normal for him so he supposed Li was allowed to be affected in some way too.

  The night air was so moist that Vo-nam felt his spirits lift. His annoyance and Li-pen’s insistence on a subservient attitude slid away. This was the homeworld that his great grandfather has spoken about, kindling Vo-nam’s own desire to know his human heritage.

  Again, the streets were rather bare of people. Tourists like themselves appeared to be the only ones around. Some of the tourists were human. They travelled in groups and often whispered when they neared any Di-Nuk.

  ‘Surely they know we are part human and have native rights to visit and live on Earth,’ Vo-nam whispered to his wife. Well except for me, as I have a tourist visa, he thought sourly.

  ‘Lo, don’t let it up set you, Vo. Not everyone is as well-educated as you. And perhaps they don’t see many Di-Nuks where they come from.’

  Outside one restaurant, Li-pen stopped him from entering. ‘Not that one. Let’s find somewhere else,’ she suggested, tugging on his arm, her tail agitated. He resisted and went to step through the door. He was keen to try the restaurant
because all the patrons appeared to be human.

  Li-pen started to walk away and he was left holding the doorknob. He dropped his hand and followed after her. She had the credit cards after all.

  ‘Why did you do that?’ he asked as he trailed his wife down the street.

  ‘Because I want a nice quiet dinner without you getting paranoid about humans and their reactions to us. You expect too much from them just like you do pure bloods at home.’

  ‘But...but...’

  Li-pen walked faster and Vo had to hurry to keep up with her. The restaurants seemed to peter out after two intersections and Li-pen slowed down. There was an alleyway leading to a courtyard and another street beyond. Vo-nam thought he saw people walking there and headed off in that direction. Li-pen followed without complaint.

  Vo-nam stood stock still and saw a number of rectangular vehicles with small windows cut into them. A quick glance and he could tell most of them were roboservers. However, in one of them a Di-Nuk handed out food to customers. Spices, sweet sauces and an array of food smells mingled in the courtyard. Immediately, Vo was drawn the cart manned by the Di-Nuk. As he neared, the tantalising scent of seared meat teased his nostrils. Beside him, Li-pen growled low in her throat, unable to deny her reaction to the closeness of the food. The Di-Nuk’s eyes widened when he saw them.

  ‘Not often we see Di-Nuks here in the back street. What can I get you?’ His accent was rather strange. He spoke like his vowels had been flattened and his consonants sharpened. Vo-nam was not certain but he sensed that the food vendor was nervous.

  Glancing at the price list, which was more than half what the hotel charged, Vo-nam licked his fangs with a wet tongue. ‘Meat for both of us. Rare if possible,’ he requested in his best Earth tongue.

  ‘Sure. Coming right up.’ The vendor sliced off thick slaps of meat from a joint he had grilling and placed it between two large pieces of bread. ‘You want sauce?’