by Robin Roseau
I struggled with my things, taking two trips to pull everything into the building. No one was about, but I found a seat and waited. I tried to connect my implant to the planetary net, but Melina reported I wasn’t authorized access. I’d read everything I intended to read, most of it more than once, and so I sat, waiting.
Finally, Aston appeared. “All right,” he said. “Give me a minute, and I’ll see if the governor is available.” He cocked his head, and after a moment he said, “Cecilia, don’t shoot the messenger.”
That wasn’t good.
“There’s a woman here. She said her name is Maddalyn something.” He looked at me.
“Herschel,” I said. “Anna White sent me.”
“Maddalyn Herschel. She said Anna White sent her.” He paused. “No, something about your assistant.” He paused. “Yes, that’s what she said. She has the diplomatic pouch and refuses to give it to me. She said she’s ordered to hand it directly to you. Do you want me to take it away from her?” Pause. “Are you sure? She’s kind of small. It’s no trouble.” He sighed dramatically. “Fine. What do you want me to do with her? The shuttle hasn’t left yet. Blaine and I can toss her back before they close the door.” He paused then looked at me. “Anna White really sent you?”
“Yes.” I smiled. “Talmon is my new home.”
“She looks determined,” Aston said. “But Blaine and I can take her.”
“Take me where?” I asked.
“Her English isn’t that good,” he added.
“How is your German?” I spat.
“Oh, she’s feisty,” he said.
“Anna White sent me,” I said firmly. “To be Governor Grace’s personal assistant. The governor needs me.”
Aston ignored all that. “What should we do with her?” Pause, pause. “All right. Okay, Cecilia.”
Aston shifted his full focus to me. “Cecilia told me to get you settled in.”
“How am I to travel to Indartha?”
“She’s coming here.”
I realized the implications immediately. “I’m supposed to be helping make things easier for her.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Aston said. “It’s nice to see her now and again, and her wife’s sister lives here. I’m sure Sartine will come, too.” He stepped over, grabbed one of my bags, and said, “This way.”
I followed him to one of the houses. He palmed the door and led me inside. “This is yours now.” He set my bag down inside and took the second then led me to the pad by the door. We handled authorization and then he led the way inside. “Frantzland is a technological planet, right?”
“Yes.”
“Look around and make sure you know how to operate everything.”
“My implant was not able to access the network.”
“I can take care of that,” he said.
“When will Governor Grace arrive?”
“She didn’t say. She said she had to talk to Sartine first.”
* * * *
Governor Grace actually didn’t make me wait. I was in my house that evening when Melina received a message for me from the governor. “Are you available immediately, Ms. Herschel?”
“Of course, Governor,” I replied.
“Very good. Come to my office inside the main building. Bring the diplomatic satchel.”
“I’ll come instantly,” I replied. I took only seconds to verify my appearance. I’d remained dressed professionally, ready to see her at a moment’s notice, and the moment had arrived. I stepped from my house and hurried the short distance to the main embassy building.
It was quiet, and if I hadn’t been summoned, I would have assumed the building was empty. Melina knew the way to Governor Grace’s office, so I followed her directions. The door was open, so I stepped into the doorway and rapped my knuckles against the doorframe. “Governor Grace?”
There was a single occupant to in the room, a petite woman with long, pure white hair. She was standing at the window, looking into the growing twilight. Hearing me, she turned around.
She was clearly the result of rejuvenation, but looked quite stunning. Her smile was brief, but we stepped together, and she held out her hand. We met near her desk and clasped for a moment. “Welcome to Talmon.”
“Thank you, Governor Grace,” I said. “This is for you.” I held out the satchel. “There is a formal letter of introduction from Anna White as well as a personal letter that mentions me.” I had practiced the English and was pleased to have said it properly.
She inspected the satchel then looked at me.
“I have backup copies, Frau Governor Grace.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You are from Frantzland.”
“Yes, Frau Governor Grace.”
“And nervous.”
“Yes, Frau Governor Grace.”
She switched to German. “Is this language easier for you?”
My relief was clearly obvious. “Yes! Frau Governor Grace. But Aunt Anna told me I must work on my English.”
“Anna White is your aunt.” She said it somewhat coldly. I hadn’t planned on mentioning that, but it slipped out. The governor stepped around her desk and sat down. Without looking up, she waved at a chair. I took my place and waited while she opened the satchel, removed the contents, and then read the first page, which I knew was my letter of introduction. The next few papers were Aunt Anna’s personal letter to Governor Grace. She read the letter and then paged through to see what else was present. Finally she looked up at me. “Are you familiar with the full contents?”
“Frau White has faith in me.”
“I imagine she does,” she replied. She leaned back in her chair, watching me. “I didn’t send for you.”
“Frau White used that as evidence of your need.”
She tapped papers on her desk. “Have you read these?”
“Yes. Frau White told me to read them,” I said. “Frau Governor Grace, she is not my aunt, not exactly.”
“Oh?”
“Anna White was married to my grandfather’s brother. That ended when I was young. Until arriving on Tarriton, I had only met her once, when I was eight. Hmm. Five years old.”
“You still think in terms of Frantzland years.”
“Sometimes.” I paused. “I have to convert.”
“When did you leave Frantzland?”
“Not yet two years ago.”
“When did you learn English?”
“On Tarriton.”
“Do you speak any Talmonese?”
“No. Frau White said I would learn here. Governor Grace, I know how this looks.”
“Do you?”
“Frau White wishes reports, but she wishes you to read what I write.”
“And you know how this looks.” It was said coldly.
“How well do you know Frau White?”
“Fairly well.”
“Then you know she cares deeply about what happens here,” I said. “The day we met on Tarriton, she told me what her job is and what she tries to do. She was amazing. You have met her.”
Cecilia nodded. “I know what you are saying, Frau Herschel.”
“Her… Her passion is infectious.”
“And you are infected.”
“Yes. She told me many things. She told me this is a beautiful planet.”
“Compared to Frantzland, every planet is beautiful.”
If that weren’t so true, I might have been offended. “Ja. I arrived on Tarriton from Frantzland. I had never been anywhere else.”
“I imagine that was rather shocking.”
“And then I met Anna White for the first time since I was five years old.”
“I begin to appreciate the picture.”
“We spent a few days together, and then she asked if I wanted to work for her. I thought she meant on Tarriton, but she talked about where the real work happens. She said she needed me out here, where I can really help. I want to help, Governor Grace.”
“And report on me.”
“Frau
White has complete faith in you. She sent me to you to help me learn. But she said you do not know how to delegate, and you do not know how to ask for help. And so, I am to help you learn.”
The governor snorted.
“She said what you are trying to do is very hard, and that you need more staff, but she doesn’t want to send more to you if you will not delegate.”
“I do not need an assistant,” she said firmly. “I need teachers and engineers and medical staff. And I need people who speak fluent Talmonese.”
“I will learn.”
“From your English, I would not say that learning languages is your strongest skill.”
I hung my head. She was probably right. But I said in a small voice, “I will learn.”
She made another disgusted sound. “I cannot believe Anna sent someone from Frantzland. You don’t have any of the proper instincts.”
“What instincts?”
“We are not in your pristine underground caverns here, Frau Herschel. The walk from here to your house is under the open sky.”
“A beautiful sky.”
“And there are animals.” I stared at her blankly, not seeing her point. She made her sound again. “You do know that some animals are dangerous.”
“Of course,” I said. “But the settlers would not have brought them.”
“This was a living planet before humans arrived,” the governor pointed out. “There may not be any lions waiting to eat you, but there are creatures out there that don’t know you are poisonous to them.” She shook her head. “Would you even recognize the signs that a storm is moving in?”
“There were storms on Tarriton.”
“And a global weather monitoring system, with four-day advance warning of anything notable, and alarms sent directly to your tablet.”
“Implant.”
She leaned back. “She got her niece an implant.”
“And a thirty-year employment contract,” I replied.
“Twenty is standard.”
“Mine is thirty.”
“What model did she give you?”
“Herr Parsons said it was standard for diplomatic personnel. Model 27A.”
She nodded. “Fine. You have spent your entire life coddled by technology. Well, we don’t have any of that. We have one satellite. It can provide basic weather reporting for this portion of the world, but we have no network of weather reporting stations. Our ability to predict weather is only slightly better than the locals, relying on monitoring the temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure. Do you know the dangers of a storm?”
“No,” I admitted.
“Have you ever experienced winter?”
“No.”
She shook her head. “Your aunt sent you here so I could babysit you. I should have sent you back, but the shuttle has already departed, and so I’m stuck with you.”
“Then until it returns, you may as well make use of me,” I said.
“Fine,” she said. “You said Anna sent you so I could learn to delegate. Fine. You are worthless to me until you can speak Talmonese well enough to communicate with the locals. So that’s your first assignment: learn Talmonese.”
“I’ll see to it, Governor Grace. Will there be anything else?”
“No.”
I stood up. “Thank you for your time, Governor Grace.” I turned and headed for the door, trying not to sob. The governor hated me.
I made it to the door, and she said, “Stop.”
I almost didn’t. I almost ran from the room, fighting to hold in my emotions until I was out of sight. But I turned to her, and she looked even more annoyed.
“Do you know how you’re going to learn Talmonese?”
“No, but that is my problem.”
“How am I supposed to delegate to you when I can’t trust you?”
I stomped over, now angry. “I have given you not one reason to distrust me. Aunt Anna,” and I said it that way intentionally, “told me that the moment I set foot on this planet, my first loyalty was to the planet and its people. My second is to you. She is third. The empire isn’t worth mentioning. Maybe I am every bit as ignorant as you think. But I am loyal.”
She sat still for a minute then said, “On that, we’ll see. But it wasn’t your loyalty I was questioning. It was your judgment.”
“For being foolish enough to be sent from Frantzland to here?”
“Sit,” she said with a gesture. She waited, and once I was seated, she admitted, “That’s part of it. I gave you an assignment. You don’t have an idea how to perform it, but you walked out of here like you had a plan. How can I trust you? I can’t give you an important task and believe you have it handled when you don’t.”
I stared and then hung my head. “I would solve this somehow.”
“Maybe you would. How?”
I looked up. “I don’t know, but if I have to walk into the worst part of Sudden and offer my body in exchange for language lessons, I will.”
She leaned back in her chair, her mouth open slightly and her eyes wide. “You know, I believe you. How do you think I would respond if I discovered that was the choice you made? How do you think Aunt Anna would thank me if she learned of that?”
“Perhaps that is a poor plan. It was the first thing I thought of. Well, that isn’t true. I would have asked Blaine or Aston for suggestions first.”
She smiled and then it turned into a laugh. Then she apologized. “I’m sorry. You wouldn’t know this. In a way, that’s what they did, although they didn’t know it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“They are both rather popular with the local women. And the local chief’s daughter told all the local women to demand they improve their Talmonese before letting them have any… affection.”
“She did?”
“She did.”
“Then maybe I should present myself to this chief’s daughter, and she can find someone to do the same with me.”
The governor snorted. “Yes, we’re not going down that path right now.” Then she shook her head. “Anna shouldn’t have sent you to me, regardless of your loyalty to her or anyone else.”
“I will work hard, Governor Grace.”
“I have little doubt. However, you spent how long on Tarriton?”
“Eighteen months.”
“So you speak German fluently and English somewhat hesitatingly. Could you have held this conversation in English?”
“More slowly, and you would need to speak somewhat more simply.”
“Well, my experience with people who do not have a natural talent for languages has been this. The first foreign language takes time, but with enough effort, it settles in. However, if they begin a third language before becoming entirely fluent and comfortable with the second, the two foreign languages interfere with each other. Your English is going to get worse, and it will be very difficult for you to speak either English or Talmonese without including words from the other language, and probably German as well. I may be the only person on the planet who will be able to understand you.”
I leaned forward. “You underestimate my determination.”
“Perhaps I do,” she said. “We do not have a formal program for teaching Talmonese. What we have is a dictionary and informal notes on grammar. By the time you return to your quarters, I will send you references. Unfortunately, the only references we have are English to Talmonese, and it would be a mistake to automatically convert to German.”
“Why?”
“The best example is the English word To Think. How would you translate that?”
“Either Glauben or Denken depending on context.”
“Explain.”
“Glauben could translate into English To Believe. I believe my Aunt Anna is passionate about her work.”
“Yes. Keep going.”
“Denken refers to the act of thinking. I am thinking about how to learn Talmonese.”
“Yes, well, if you automatically translate, you’ll get significant trans
lation errors.”
“I understand, Governor.”
“You will need to manually create your own dictionary,” she added. “You need be no more formal than necessary for your own needs. I don’t imagine we’re going to see more people arrive from Frantzland any time soon, and if they aren’t fluent in English, that’s their problem.”
“I understand, Governor.”
She paused then nodded. “You are not responsible for the politics of the situation. If you are to be my assistant, you need access to everything. We have no secrets here. It might be morning, but I will grant you full access to all data we have.”
“Thank you for trusting me, Governor.”
“I want to be clear about something. If I ever give you an assignment, and you don’t know how to fill it, you will tell me.”
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“I will return to my desk, consider my choices, and then inform you if I am unable to produce a satisfactory plan.”
She considered. “Fine. But I do not want stumbling around. If you say you can take care of something, you better be honest about it.”
“I will be.”
“Good. By morning, I expect you to offer greetings to me in Talmonese. You will offer a greeting and inquire into my health. You may not understand my reply, but you will be able to receive my inquiry and offer a polite reply. The dictionary has common phrases, and you can branch from there.”
“Yes, Governor.”
“Good. Good night, Frau Herschel.”
I paused, not getting up. She raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”
“This is not Frantzland.”
“No, it is not,” she said. “Good night, Maddalyn.”
“Good night, Governor Grace.”
She nodded, and I slipped from the chair. I was halfway out the door before she said, “Maddalyn.” I turned to her. When I did, she offered a sentence or two. I understood one word: Talmon. Then she said, “Welcome to Talmon. I hope you enjoy it here.”
“I intend to.”
She said another word in the language, and then said, this time in English, “Good night, Maddalyn.”
“Good night, Governor Grace.”
* * * *
I hurried to my home. With the door closed, I took in great breaths of air, pushing away my emotions.