‘I am not restoring your previous position, but pending the debriefing with Elvene, you may be offered a restoration of command for a probationary period.’
‘How long?’
‘That depends, and will be determined if and when it is given.’
‘I understand.’
‘Good. I will expect a full report. I expect Elvene will need to be rested for a period, as well. So at this stage, there will be no new missions for her.’
‘I understand. What about Alfa?’
‘Alfa can be downloaded, so the ship that you configured may be used for other missions. That will be decided independently of your debriefing of Elvene.’
‘I understand.’
‘Okay, that will be all.’
Roger left as he had arrived, without any sign of outward emotion.
Elvene found it strange to be back at the Base after such a long absence. She noticed that people treated her differently; it was as if no one wanted to talk to her. They were all very polite, even deferential, but there was no warmth in any of the contact – perhaps sympathy, but not warmth. She knew that her position made it difficult to form long-term friendships; Roger was the closest she had, because he understood, better than anyone else, how difficult it was for her.
Quarantine wanted to confiscate the talisman that Lenya had given her, but they relented when she agreed to keep it permanently in a vacuum case with a self-destructive seal. They also gave her a full medical and were not happy about her condition. It was only Roger’s intervention that allowed her to be released into communal living.
Roger, in his wisdom, took her to one of the Base’s gardens, where they could have a meal in private and talk without the risk of bureaucratic intervention.
Roger related to her what Lin and Essayas had told him about the Kiri people, and why he had been demoted for attempting her rescue with Alfa.
She told Roger about the attack on the Salari people by a small armada of marauders, and how they had been defeated by the sky swimmers.
‘Alfa has no record of this attack,’ Roger said.
‘That’s right, he spent the whole period of my visit with the Salari underwater.’
‘So we don’t need to report it then.’
She put her hand on Roger’s arm. ‘No, Roger, that’s the worst thing we could do.’
‘But no one would ever find out.’
‘Perhaps, but imagine if someone did. And how many careers have been wrecked precisely because people believed that no one will ever find out?’
Roger didn’t know what to say.
‘Besides, Lin and Essayas are right: they need to be left alone. If we report the attack, then no one will ever be allowed to go there again.’
‘That will have consequences for you, though, surely. I mean, in the future.’
‘Who knows what the future will bring? For the time being it’s a price I’m willing to pay.’
‘You say that Myka can communicate with these sky swimmers.’
‘Well, he certainly has an empathy with them and they do whatever he wants.’
‘But you believe he has telepathic abilities with animals.’
‘Some animals, yes.’
She knew that Roger was sceptical, nevertheless she had some theories of her own. ‘You know, for centuries we’ve been evolving by our own intervention, not only ourselves, but also machines, and combinations with machines, like my plasma guns.’ She held up her arms to display her lethal bracelets. ‘I mean, people have been having chips inserted into their brains ever since the twenty-first Century, Earth-time, amongst other things.’
‘What has that got to do with Myka’s abilities?’
‘Well, perhaps Myka is an example of old-fashioned natural evolution.’
‘You think his abilities are an evolutionary development?’
‘Why not? You have a people who live in isolation without any technology, and as a result they develop skills that we’ve forgotten, plus some new ones.’
Elvene was getting into her subject, so Roger showed restraint by remaining silent.
‘But his relationship with the sky swimmers is unique, and perhaps there is a reason for that, as well.’
‘Please, I’m all ears.’
Elvene wondered if he was being sarcastic but realised he wasn’t. ‘Well, it seems that the sky swimmers communicate between themselves at a telepathic level, and therefore they see him as one of them.’
‘Oh, Elvene, that’s absurd.’
‘No, it’s not, it has precedence on Old Earth.’
‘What precedence? There were no telepathic animals on Earth.’
‘Not that we know of. No, that’s not what I mean. I’m talking about our relationship with dogs. You know that dogs always lived in packs, not unlike the sky swimmers actually, but when they became attached to humans they perceived the human as one of the pack, and what’s more, they acknowledged that the human was the leader of their particular pack. I believe the same thing has occurred with Myka and the sky swimmers.’
‘Well, at least that part of your theory makes sense.’
‘Actually the sky swimmers are more like dolphins in their relationship with humans. As you may remember, dolphins were very intelligent and had a most amazing affinity with humans, even though they inhabited different mediums. Sky swimmers also inhabit a different medium, and they also display a high level of intelligence and complex social structure.’
‘But according to you, before Myka arrived, the Salari people lived in fear of the sky swimmers and they were mutually antagonistic.’
‘That’s right, but under their previous leader, Ryka, they were socially pathological, not only to the sky swimmers, but also to themselves.’
‘Well, one thing for sure, no one is going to go back there and study them, especially if you have your way.’
‘So you agree with me?’
‘Yes, Elvene, you’ve convinced me.’
Roger fidgeted in his seat as a prelude to changing the subject. ‘As you know, I interrogated Alfa when he returned, but he never quite convinced me of why you were so determined to take on the pursuing marauders. I mean, if you thought we were coming back, you could have just put yourself into hibernation and waited.’
Elvene took her time before she answered. ‘Well, it was just as well I didn’t. After all, you didn’t come back.’ But she knew she was being flippant. ‘They were my responsibility, Roger. I couldn’t have done that and not known the consequences. Besides, if you had returned during the battle, you would have only brought more marauders with you.’
Roger may have differed, but he let the issue lie.
Elvene saw him relax and decided to ask a question of her own. ‘When you disobeyed orders and sent Alfa back, did you really believe I was still alive, or was it just wishful thinking?’
‘Actually, what decided it for me, was when I realised your mistake.’
‘My mistake?’
‘Yes, when you told Alfa to wait for you, you didn’t synchronise your chronometer with his.’
‘It didn’t matter, I was talking about elapsed time.’
‘Except, you were on the planet’s time and he was on standard ship-time. The planet’s rotation was slightly longer than standard. You never specified what time you were following when you gave him those instructions.’
‘And on that basis, you sent him back?’
‘It was enough to convince me I should.’
‘But I still might have died a number of different ways.’
‘Yes, I know, but the key thing is that Alfa didn’t let you down, it was human error. Yours, in fact.’
‘Amazing. So a mistake actually saved my life.’
‘In a roundabout way, yes. But it nearly cost you first.’
‘Well, yes, but if I’d set my chronometer to his, I still wouldn’t have made it in time, and then maybe you wouldn’t have sent him back.’
‘I hadn’t thought of that.’
‘Tell
me, did you change his programming to make him more protective?’
‘No. He would have done that himself, as a sort of compensation, I guess. Why?’
‘Oh, nothing. He was very much in a mother mode, that’s all. But then, I wasn’t in any fit emotional state, either.’
Roger leant forward a little, indicating that the conversation was becoming more personal. ‘Speaking of emotional states. Do you have any regrets?’
Elvene sat up a bit. ‘You mean about Myka?’
‘Yes.’
‘How can I have regrets, Roger? To love someone like that who would give you his heart and body and soul. I feel I’ve been blessed.’
‘Yes, I understand that. But it must have been very difficult for you to leave.’
‘Emotionally, very difficult. Both for him and me.’
‘So, I’ll ask you again. Do you have any regrets?’
‘Roger, even if I do, what difference does it make? I made a decision, the only one I could make under the circumstances, and I will live with that.’
Roger nodded his head as if he was satisfied. He leant back in his chair, visibly more relaxed. He seemed willing to let it go, and changed the subject again.
‘What will you do with your time off? Obviously, we can’t send you on a mission in your current condition.’
‘I don’t know, maybe record a memoir of all this. For the sake of future generations.’ She gave him a cheeky smile. ‘Besides, I’m sure you can find things for me to do around here.’
‘Yes, I’m sure we can.’ Roger gave her a sideways look, as if he thought his next question may be unwelcome. ‘Did you tell him, by the way, before you left?’
To his relief, Elvene smiled, and leant back in her chair.
‘No.’ She looked a little guilty though. ‘Why complicate his life more than it is already?’
‘It’s all right, Elvene, it’s not for me to judge.’ Then he gave her a wry smile. ‘So, do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?’
‘Yes, I know.’
‘But you’re not going to tell me.’
‘That’s right.’
Digital Publishing Centre
an imprint of Interactive Publications
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Carindale, Queensland, Australia 4152
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2nd edition published by Interactive Publications, 2010
ePub version, 2010
© Paul Phillip Mealing
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.
Printed in 11 pt Book Antiqua on 16 pt Bank Gothic.
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry (pbk)
Author: Mealing, Paul Phillip, 1951-
Title: Elvene : the Kiri myth of ocean woman / Paul P Mealing.
Edition: 2nd ed.
ISBN: 9781921479649 (ebk.)
Subjects: Australian fiction.
Dewey Number: A823.4
Cover design: Aaron Pocock
Book design: David P Reiter
Author Photo: Leia Mihailidis
Paul Mealing lives in Melbourne and, when he is not writing and philosophising, he works as a project controls engineer in the construction industry.
His background has been varied and includes share farming in the mallee of NSW and amateur theatre in Canberra.
His interests include science, religion and philosophy. He started writing fiction and screenplays in the 1980s, but Elvene is his first published novel.
Digital Publishing Centre
Brisbane
Table of Contents
Elvene
The Kiri Myth of Ocean Woman
Paul Philip Mealing
Acknowledgements
Part 1
1. Elvene
2. Myka
3. Landfall
4. The Kiri
5. Elvene and Myka
6. Roger
7. Council of Elders
8. Last Contact
Part 2
9. No escape
10. Unexplored Territories
11. Journey into Darkness
12. Unlikely Saviours
13. Journey’s End
14. Abandoned
15. Upon Pain of Death
16. Home is the Heart at Peace
17. Parting Gifts
Elvene Page 29