by S A Pavli
“That is not actually true Manera,” I replied, “We have some very strict treaties restricting the deployment of military weapons in space. Our United Planets Council co-opts military ships from all planets and nations and maintains the only space based military capability. But this is a token force for peacekeeping and self defence only.”
“But Humans have the capability to build and use these weapons. Use them very effectively as you have demonstrated,” she replied.
“Well, I am sorry to be so effective,” I said , miffed at her attitude. “Next time I will try to be incompetent if it make you feel safer.”
“I did not mean to be critical Paul,” she said. “You have been skilled and brave, putting yourself in danger to save the Tanu. I am just trying to , well how would you put it, present the enemy’s case. As you once told me to, if you remember.”
“To be the Devil’s advocate,” I muttered . “And yes I do remember. ”
I felt a little miffed by her criticisms of humanity, but I concentrated on docking the Epsilon with the Lisa Jane. That done, we exited from the Epsilon back to the Lisa Jane while Alfred docked the ship with the Tanu. Manera looked stiff and unhappy, avoiding my gaze and I felt grumpy and angry. I was confused by my feelings and realised I was over reacting, but I think Manera had touched a nerve. What was bothering me was that us Humans were warlike and yes we were very good at killing.
We walked off the ship, through the connecting tunnel and into the Tanu’s airlock and disembarkation area. Manera turned to me and without a word came up and putting one arm around my waist and another around my shoulder she pulled me to her and rested her head against my chest.
“I am sorry I was so insensitive Paul,” she whispered. I pulled her head up and kissed her gently on the lips.
“That’s OK, I over-reacted,” I pulled her to me and gave her a bear hug.
“That is why I wanted to come with you Paul,” she said earnestly. “Whatever happened to you I wanted to share it.”
“Sorry , It’s because I felt guilty,” I said shamefacedly. She gave me a long warm kiss which made me feel decidedly better. We were just beginning to really get into the business of making each other feel better but were interrupted by a sarcastic English drawl in our ears.
“When you two have finished commiserating with each other,” said Alfred, “Which by the way would be better done in private,” he added, “Perhaps you can get up to the Conference room. The Guardians have called a meeting.”
“Sometimes Alfred, I think you had a Victorian upbringing,” I grinned.
“The Victorians did have the good manners not to slobber over each other in public,” he said.
“Who were these Victorians?” asked Manera while I chuckled at Alfred’s humour. I spent the next few minutes, while we made our way up to the Conference room, explaining to her who the Victorians were and their inhibited brand of morality.
“Of course,” I finished, “Like all sexually repressed societies, all that energy had to come out somewhere. In their case, they conquered the world and tried to make it into their image, a repressed and fanatically religious image.”
“They sound very unpleasant,” observed Manera.
“Oh, they had many fine moral values,” I replied, “But their values often took second place to expediency. The rich and powerful exploited the poor in dangerous dirty factories or forced them into backbreaking labour on farms for long hours, while their wives donated parcels of food to the poor to assuage their guilt.”
“How did they justify this to themselves?” asked Manera thoughtfully.
‘They did not really believe that all people were equal,” I said. “Despite their religious teachings to the contrary, they believed that some were born to rule and others to follow. All had their place in the scheme of things and should know their place. The poor were themselves responsible for their condition.”
“I hope that such inequality is a thing of the past,” she retorted.
“Yes,” I nodded, “Four hundred and fifty years after the Victorian age I think we have at last abandoned such hypocrisy.” The history lesson stopped with our arrival at the entrance to the conference room .
“Talking about inequality,” I said. “Exactly how much power do the Guardians have in Hianja society?”
“The Guardians are not the Government,” she replied. “They are analogues to your Judiciary. Every society must have independent judges to turn to for the resolution of conflicts. The Guardians are ours.”
“But you have implied that they are more than that. That they decide on what is proper in areas such as Genetic engineering and even social engineering,” I said.
“Only when those are areas of conflict which need arbitration,” she replied. “The Guardians can arbitrate because they are not part of any interest group.”
“The Guardians or Judges may make a better decision. But that does not matter, because if it does not accord with the wishes of the people, as expressed through their Government, then it is not a Democratic decision.”
“I think you do not understand our system Paul. You see, our Government is just a group of civil servants and computers. We do not have elections and political parties as you do. We have gone beyond that, because there is no disagreement amongst us regarding our economic systems. Each individual can express their democratic views on all issues of the time, as they occur. Government will carry out the majority view, except where that majority view is divided. Then, the Guardians will arbitrate.”
“So the Guardians cannot make decisions on anything they please?” I asked.
“No,” she replied, “Issues are referred to the Guardians by the Government under very special circumstances.”
“I see,” I replied. It started to make more sense now. My concern that the Guardians were some sort of autocratic Dictatorship was unfounded. They were analogues to the American Supreme Court for example. The Hianja had also taken Democracy to its ultimate conclusion; every individual was free to vote on every issue, and the Computer controlled Government must then act accordingly.
“There is only one area where Guardians take precedence over Planetary Governments, and that is issues outside the boundary of any single Planetary system. This is one of them because Omorphia is a new planet. Under those circumstances, a group of three Guardians drawn from the nearest interested planetary systems are empowered to make decisions. That is what is happening here,” Manera said as she turned to enter the conference room. I followed her in to find the Guardians already there as well as Captain Sametan and Commander Verisho. Guardian Kemato moved towards us and beckoned us over.
“Captain Constantine, Manera, come in, it is a great relief to see you unharmed.” She looked genuinely pleased to see us, as was the tall Hamolatonen. Guardian Malanisa looked less enthusiastic, her face deadpan. “Captain take a seat.” This time, Kemato waved me towards the table set in an alcove of the conference room. The others also moved towards the table and selected chairs. This was to be a more informal meeting of equals I thought as we all sat, not a tribunal
“Captain Constantine, Science Office Manera-Ka,” began Kemato formally, when we were all seated. “It is the duty of this Council, to express our gratitude to you both, and to your AI Alfred, who is in visual and audio contact with this meeting, for your brave and skilful defence of this ship, the Tanu, from the missile attack perpetrated by the criminal elements on the Pesmisk under the leadership of Smetronis Ne Pashmateri.” she looked around gravely before continuing.
“This Council must also apologise to you for the subterfuge we employed at the last meeting in this room. I know it caused you great anguish, and all things considered, your reaction was quite reserved.” There was a twinkle in her eyes as she said this and I smiled wryly in appreciation.
“The reasons for the actions taken by Smetronis and his collaborators are unknown to this Council, and will be a matter for investigation on all three of our planets. We have reasons to believe tha
t there are others, many others, and in high places, who are in league with this group of criminals, and that the plot goes back many years. We have taken Smetronis and his associates into custody and that investigation will commence immediately. We have already dispatched a message capsule into Hyperspace communicating the details of our operation here. As for us, the program is as follows,” she turned to me at this point. “Prior to our arrival here we received a communication from Hianja Prime, our home planet. It asked us to allow you to return immediately to your home world, after arranging for a Hianja-Human meeting of representatives of each species, on a planet to be agreed, at a time to be agreed. Representatives of all Hianja planets will be present, and we hope that Humans will also send representatives from all their planets. This will be the first formal contact between our two species.” The Guardian sat down and looked at me expectantly. I was sure this was being recorded and I was also aware that I looked a mess, having been dragged out of my bed in the middle of the ‘night’ to fight a space war. I stood up and looked around the table, keeping my features relaxed and friendly.
“Thank you Guardian Kemato for your kind words. It’s not every night that one gets woken up to fight a Space war, so I apologise for my dishevelled appearance. Let me say that what happened tonight has caused me great sadness and distress. I am not a soldier, and I have never killed anybody before. I do not understand what motivated these people to behave in such an aggressive and fanatical way. What I have learnt of the Hianja makes such behaviour even more unexpected and surprising. On the matter of formal Contact, I am required by my procedures to minimise all personal contact with any Alien species..,” I had trouble continuing at this point as Manera smirked in a most unladylike way. “..And to set up exactly such a meeting as you describe between representatives of our two species. I am very happy therefore to collaborate in such an endeavour. However, I do have a small problem. My ship, the Lisa Jane is damaged and not capable of Hyperspace travel. Since I am also required by my procedures not to reveal the location of Earth, I must ask you to repair my ship. My AI Alfred tells me that this should not be a difficult matter, since Hianja and Human Hyperspace drives work in the same way.” I nodded amiably and sat down.
“In order to repair the Lisa Jane we must travel to the shipyards on either Mesaroyat, Tanmeron or Vasmeranta,” responded Kemato.
“Which is closest?” I asked.
“Vasmeranta is the closest and has the best Space Port and engineering facilities in the region,” replied Kemato. “But given the probability that Smetronis may have associates, it may be wise not to go there.” Guardian Malanisa kept her face very deadpan at this. “ My planet Mesaroyat is the second closest and we have adequate facilities to repair your ship. You shall be my guest Captain.”
“It will be my pleasure,” I replied. “How long will the trip take?”
“Four days,” she replied.
“If it pleases the Council,” said Malanisa, “Since Council business with this affair is concluded, I should like to return to Vasmeranta to report in person to our Council. Do I have permission?”
“I have no reason to keep you here,” replied Kemato shortly. “Guardian Hamolatonen, would you also like to return?” she asked.
“Certainly not,” exclaimed the fair haired Guardian, “I would not pass up the opportunity to spend more time with our first real Alien.” Kemato had stood up and with a smile was announcing the end of the meeting. Malanisa was already on her feet and walked out as soon as Kemato had finished her terminating remarks. I was on my way to a Hianja planet and a deep excitement welled up within me.
I had become so used to these ‘people’ that I was taking them for granted, but every now and again I would wake up and pinch myself. Four days on the Tanu and then, how long to repair the Lisa Jane? A few days or a few weeks and then back to Earth. I had stood up, immersed in my thoughts and my eyes met with Manera’s across the table. I gave her a wink and she gave me a ravishing smile. I realised that returning to Earth meant leaving Manera and for the first time the thought of Home was something less than pleasurable. Damn, I thought, I don’t want to go back.
Chapter 22
The Tanu was to return to Mesaroyat on her own, leaving behind one of the two smaller Hianja ships to continue the scientific work on Omorphia. Malanisa’s ship would return immediately to her home planet. It seemed suspicious to me that she was in such a hurry to return, but I kept my suspicions to myself. The scientists on the Tanu itself were assigned to study me and Human society, and over the next few days I got to know them well.
It was a little nerve wracking to be the subject of scientific study, and quite exhausting because there were five scientists but only one of me. But the trip passed quickly and enjoyably and despite the obvious and very great differences between us and between Hianja and Human Society we developed a friendly relationship.
One area which caused some conflict and controversy was the area of entertainment. The Hianja were keen to view some typical Human entertainment, and I selected what I thought were a few innocuous examples from my entertainment archives. Most of these were met with approval, and some were enjoyed very much, but my hosts were extremely sensitive to anything that even remotely involved any violence. I made the mistake of including a few murder, mystery and suspense films, which seemed to have worried some of them that Human Society was infested with murderers, criminals and terrorists.
I had to point out that these were entertainment and that reality was quite different, although I confess I was not fully convinced myself. It seems that Hianja entertainment was more refined, concentrating on the higher emotions and intellectual questions and not obsessed with murder rape and pillage. Whilst I was impressed with this refinement, I did wonder whether their past was perhaps less than perfect and explained their present antipathy.
Despite that, there was an ‘earthier’ side to Hianja nature. They enjoyed the ‘sins’ of the flesh, food, drink and sex, just as much as Humans, including all that was humorous, ridiculous, obscene or just plain funny. For me, that was their most endearing characteristic and it was the one that we had most in common. Manera explained it to me, that in order to live for three hundred and fifty years, one must remain young at heart.
On the third day of our journey I was promised something different. There was a hive of activity on the ship with Tanseh to-ing and fro-ing from the ship carrying equipment. Manera awoke me early and dragged me out for an early breakfast before taking me down to the shuttle bay.
“You will enjoy this Paul,” she grinned, “It is a very popular Hianja sport.”
“Ah, so the Hianja do have sports. I thought you were far too civilised to indulge in crude competition,” I joked, poking her playfully in the ribs.
“We are,” she replied, “But this is not crude, this is very sophisticated, a test of memory, reflexes and manual dexterity.”
“I have very good manual dexterity,” I boasted.
“Well, I guess all Pilots need..,” she began, and then spotted my leering grin and ‘humphed’ in mock disapproval.
“If you think you are so good Mister Earthman, wait and see,” she promised. There were a dozen Tanseh in the shuttle bay and hordes of Hianja milling about. There was also what appeared to be a large square craft, just a box with windows, which people were boarding, and to which we also headed for.
“This is a Space Viewing Platform,” explained Manera, “Where we can see the race in comfort.”
“Aha, a race then is it?” I enquired, “Not much point in having a race between Tanseh, they are all identical,” I said in puzzlement.
“But the Pilots are not identical,” pointed out Manera, “And the course is a test of Pilot skill,” I tried to imagine how to set up a racecourse in Space and failed. We all trooped into the Viewing Platform, and I spotted all the Scientists, a bunch of Crew and some Maintenance people. It seemed just about everyone was going, except the remaining crew to run the ship. We exchanged greetings wi
th the Scientists who were in good spirits. There was a party atmosphere and a bar in the corner was doing a roaring trade.
“This is a very popular sport, Paul,” explained Batsano. “Even on Planets, we have gravity free arenas for the races and the top Pilots are highly celebrated.” I was getting the impression that this was the Hianja equivalent of Formula 1 racing.
“Is it at all dangerous?” I asked as our Platform jerked and started to move gently out of the shuttle bay and into open Space.
“It can be of course,” replied Batsano, “That is why it is so exciting, Tanseh can collide and Pilots can be hurt or even killed.” This was revealing another side to the Hianja that surprised me. “Also,” he added, “The Tanseh can collide with the laser projectors, and that also can be fatal.” He paused for a second, and continued. “Actually, Computers can override bad Pilot control that can lead to accidents, and in the junior races, for inexperienced Pilots, this is what happens because otherwise there would be many accidents. But with the top racers, Computer override can be disabled.”
The viewing Platform, which was being towed by a Tanseh, cleared the Tanu’s huge bulk and moved into open Space. That was when I saw the course, and could not contain an exclamation of admiration.
“Wow, that is something.” I craned my neck to scan the whole of the remarkable sight. Swooping into the blackness of Space, an immense convoluted tube of light, a huge circle fully dozens of kilometres in length. It was made from thousands of interlocking laser beams which formed a cylinder of light, but irregular and curved, like a massive roller coaster. It was the racing track, within which the Tanseh would race. They were taking their positions now, about a dozen as far as I could see, each one a different colour.
“The first Tanseh will go by itself,” said Manera. “It will be flown by the Computer to establish the ‘base’ time which the racers will try to get close to.” She suddenly looked thoughtful. “I have an idea,” she said, “How would you like to fly the course Paul?”