The midday darkness was soon over, and the warm light of the Daylight God flooded down from the sky on my opening fronds. My eyes fluttered anxiously in their nests, eager to resume their viewing. Keeping one eye in its nest to serve me directly, I generated scanning paths for three of my eyes that would take them along the three major trails to update the views in those directions and check on the distant workers. One by one, I fed a simplified version of my updated worldview into their minds through their teat, along with the scanning path they were to follow. I had chosen these scanning paths to be high in the sky so as to update as much of my worldview of the land around us as possible. The fifth eye was set with its normal scan pattern, circling the compound and bringing back its views after each circuit in order to maintain my worldview of the activities of my people as they worked at their assigned tasks. The sixth eye I sent off with instructions to locate the humans and report back with their present location. This eye would be kept busy flying back and forth, as the humans would be moving rapidly along the trail toward our compound. My sixth eye was soon back. The humans had moved even faster than I had expected and were now outside the thook barrier, waiting for it to be opened.
I activated one of my gatherers, and it scampered out of my mouth to my storage shed to obtain a tablet of moist writing clay. After the gatherer had returned to its teat and was connected back into me, I used its front claws to impict a proclamation to the tribe concerning the imminent visit of our human friends.
"I, Seetoo, Chief of all the Keejook, announce the arrival of six humans for a visit that will last several days. I command you to welcome them with spread fronds, since they will bring new knowledge with them that will benefit the Keejook in the future. I recognize the visit will be disturbing, since the humans have an annoying tendency to move themselves and other objects rapidly from place to place, making it difficult to assemble a proper worldview or directing your eyes and gatherers. They, however, have promised to try to move slowly and to remain still in front of an individual if they wish to be properly viewed."
My gatherer took the completed tablet to Proclamation Rock and whistled, calling an eye from every member of the tribe so that all would know of the human's arrival. Soon many curious eyes fluttered around, following me as I stumped slowly to the thook border to greet the humans waiting outside.
THE HUMANS had arrived at the thook hedge surrounding the Jolly village shortly before the midday darkness. This dense thicket of thorns was a living wall which protected the Jolly village. The Jollys provided the hedge with water and fertilizer, and in return the semi-intelligent plants stood guard, rolling back their springy, thorn-covered looped branches to allow members of the Keejook tribe to pass safely, while closing against anyone else who tried to get through, the long thorns impaling any transgressors, such as prowling animals or marauding stronglimbs from warring neighboring tribes. While the humans could move quickly enough to pass through any gaps in the wall before the hydraulically operated branches of the plants could trap them, the scientists knew their arrival was expected and had stopped outside the hedge and waited patiently to be noticed. While they were waiting, they passed around a travel net containing feebook-leaf-wrapped jookeejook-meat sandwiches on sourdough bread. Although Nels was the baker for the human encampment, the sourdough was the invention of Reiki—when she accidentally let a pot of flour paste "spoil".
"Maybe we should give a holler and let them know we are here," suggested Richard after finishing his sandwich.
"Richard, dear," said Reiki. "The others are still eating."
David looked up through the tall tree branches. There was the sound or fluttering wings overhead. "Wouldn't do much good anyway. The noonday eclipse is about to start. The Jollys don't function well without sunlight and are probably pulling in their eyes and settling down for their daily siesta."
"That sounds like a good idea to me," said Nels, lying back on his blanket roll, half a sandwich in hand.
The dark came rapidly. As they relaxed in the cool blackness, lit only by the stars and moons, the women took the opportunity to nurse their babies while the men dozed in their accustomed after-lunch siesta.
Shortly after the nearly two-hour-long midday darkness lifted, an eyebird appeared overhead. As soon as the eye spotted the humans, it flew back over the fence to the inside.
"That must have been Seetoo's eye, looking for us," said Richard, getting up. "He should be here any minute now."
"You mean any hour now," said Nels, maintaining his relaxed position.
Although the thook hedge was impenetrable, it was possible to see through it by moving one's head back and forth while looking at a distant object. For a long time, the humans saw little moving in the village, just slowly swaying four-meter tall trees, each in front of a little hut, which were scattered in a seemingly random manner around the compound. Occasionally a gatherer would move from one place to another, or an eye would flutter to or from its nest in the fronds of one of the trees.
There was a whistle from a gatherer standing on top of a large flat rock in the center of the compound, and the amount of activity increased as a large flock of eyes gathered to flutter above the rock, then return to their nests. One of the trees started to move. The fronds of the tree had a ribbon woven through them with a bow hanging down the back. The ribbon was a bright red—a royal-red according to the jollys—reserved for use only by the chief of the Keejook tribe. Dangling below each eye nest, like drop earrings, was a decorative cluster of beads made of colored shells and gold nuggets. At the "waist" where the six large rootlike limbs of the tree joined the main trunk, the tree wore a belt made from what looked like fish skin. Hanging from the belt, dangling down between the long legs, were various pouches and utensils, one of which was a long dirk with a blade made of a single piece of obsidian.
"Here comes Seetoo," reported Richard, "as fast as he can." Seetoo had not finished eating, so David's psychedelic mouth apron was still lowered over the chief's mouth. The trunk of the chieftain remained rigidly upright as Seetoo balanced firmly on a tripod formed of a back limb and two forward side limbs. The other three limbs—the front limb and the two rear side limbs—lifted from the ground. The limbs moved, not by bending at a joint, but by hydraulically contracting, somewhat like the trunk of an elephant. At the ends of each of the limbs was a stubby but prehensile root system that functioned as both hands and feet. Right now the fingerlike roots were splayed out as feet to provide maximum support to the limbs acting as legs. The leading triplet of legs now swung forward to take a step, then expanded to make contact with the ground. With all six limbs now firmly implanted, Seetoo's trunk shifted forward to transfer the weight of the body from the trailing triplet of legs to the leading triplet. During the whole process, the tall trunk remained steadily vertical, for if a Jolly fell over, getting up again was a major task. The stepping process now repeated, with the trailing triplet contracting, reaching forward, then extending and touching down to establish a firm tripod base under the center of mass, so the leading triplet could again take another step.
"He's practically running," remarked Nels as he watched the colorfully decorated Jolly moving across the compound. "He must be taking three steps a minute."
KNOWING the human's regrettable tendency to haste, Seetoo whistled to the thook hedge long before arriving and the hedge opened before Seetoo reached it. The chief settled down on all six legs, and from behind the mouth apron one of the gatherers inside whistled a greeting to the humans over the grinding, gurgling noise coming from the gizzard in the rear. Like Reiki, the Jollys ignored any inconvenient noises emitted by the body.
"I, Seetoo, Chief of all the Keejook, welcome you to our Inner Sanctuary. I welcome you, Raakee, One Who Honors the Form, and you, Reechaard, One of Great Strength. I welcome you, Daaveed, One Who Spreads Color Like the Daylight God, and you, Aareeaal, One Who Moves like the Wind. I welcome you, Naals, One Who Studies Life, and you, Ceeneemaan, One who Sings. May your visit spread know
ledge like pollen on the wind, fertilizing all who are sticky to receive it."
Reiki waited until Chief Seetoo finished the greeting and then stepped forward. "Greetings, Seetoo, Chief of all the Keejook. We have the honor to introduce to you the newest members of our tribe. This is Freeman, fruit of Richard and Reiki." She brought her son around so that the baby's face was close to the chiefs nested eye. Then she indicated the other children in turn, "This is Eve, fruit of Cinnamon and Nels, and Shannon, fruit of David and Arielle."
Seetoo had been aware of the babies for many days; its eyes kept a regular but discreet surveillance of all that happened in the human tribe. But the chief was rather shocked to learn that the children all seemed to have different fathers! How could a race survive unless only the most dominant was allowed to do the fertilizing of seed? Seetoo mentally added this question to the long list of others it planned to ask of the humans during their stay.
"Welcome human seedlings," said Seetoo formally. "Welcome Shaaneen, of the fiery foliage. Welcome Freemaan of the watchful eyes. Welcome Eev ..." For a moment, the Jolly paused. An eye fluttered briefly in front of the baby to take a good look at the peaceful sleeping face. The draft from its wings woke the child, who glared irritably back at the large single eye of the creature that had disturbed her. Her face wrinkled up and she squalled in complaint.
"Welcome Eev, of the wrinkled face."
Laughing, the humans crossed though the thook hedge and entered mainstream Jolly life. The Jolly village was bustling with activity. Each Jolly worked at its trade as decided by ability and desire ... and, of course, as decreed by the chief. Just inside the thick thorn hedge along the riverbank at the lower end of the village were the pens of jookeejook. These miniature versions of the Jolly had eyes and gatherers that were tethered to the main body by permanent umbilical attachments. They were the Jolly equivalent of pigs, eating refuse while producing food in the form of delicious fruits and meat. While the similar form of the jookeejooks indicated they were distantly related to the Jollys, the kinship was hardly acknowledged. Jookeejook meant "person that is not a person", and the smaller plant showed almost no sign of intelligence. A herder was in the pen, harvesting the ripe fruits from the animals as they ate from the feebook-leaf-lined slop trenches. The herder sent forth an eye to watch the procession as Seetoo led the humans past the pens and deeper into the large Jolly village that lay between the river on one side and the slopes of the island's volcano on the other side.
Further up along the riverbank were the seedlings of the tribe, rooted in their carefully tended gravel bed. As the humans slow-stepped by the bed, keeping pace with their guide, they could see seedlings at various stages of development. Some were simple rooted plants, some had developed mouths and more complex root systems, and some had fully developed eyes and gatherers, but all of them were firmly rooted in the bed.
The Jollys didn't have much use for straight lines, so there were no "streets" in the village, but they did keep clear the winding paths between the structures. Most of the Jollys lived in the same buildings in which they worked, and the placement depended on function. Seetoo introduced the humans as they came to each hut. Weehoob the knifemaker had a hut high on the slope of the volcano, where there was a good supply of the clear black obsidian that made the sharpest edges. Pootee, the potter, had a hut close to the riverbank, where there was a patch of soft dark clay. In the middle of the village was the hut of the elders. These were Jollys whose age or injuries were such that they were excused from strenuous activity. One elder, fronds yellow-brown with age, was telling stories to a small group of young stronglimbs from the nearby Youngling School. The school was the largest building in town, as this had to house not only Teeloot, the teacher, but the young Jolly stronglimbs as well. As the humans passed this structure, a veritable blizzard of fluttering eyes came out of the hut and surrounded them.
"There seem to be many young ones studying at the school now," Reiki remarked to Seetoo.
"Oh, no. The two crops of seedlings in the school only numbers eight. But the younger crop has imperfect control over their eyes and sometimes many are sent to view the same thing."
Moving at Seetoo's slow pace, the procession completed their tour around the village and ended up at Seetoo's home in the center. Right beside Seetoos home was a large round clearing. In the center of this clearing was Proclamation Rock, a flat-topped stone some ten feet in diameter. The field itself was clear of all pebbles and leaves and had been raked into a decorative pattern. It reminded David of a "swept lawn" in Americas Deep South. It was here that the tribe gathered whenever it was necessary for everyone to be present with more than just their eyes.
Chief Seetoo had arranged to house the scientists for the several days they would be staying. Three huts were set up for them near the large Chief's Hut, one for each couple and their child. The frames of the huts were made of peethoo saplings lashed together with tough keekoo root threads, while the walls were made of the large tough waterproof leaves of the ground-ivy plant, the feebook.
As the evening fell and storm clouds rolled in, the humans unpacked the supplies they had carried with them, while Seetoo returned to the privacy of the Chief's Hut nearby. With the Daylight God vanished from the sky, and the light from the Nightlight God blocked by the clouds, the Jollys liked to be home. While an adult Jolly could still function during the night, if necessary, the creatures retained the urge to conserve energy by dropping into unconsciousness during darkness as they had done as seedlings. Inside their huts, they could rest without fear of being blown over by strong winds.
The huts set up for the humans were spare, an empty square about four meters on each side. In the middle rested a pottery bowl containing water. Alongside this was a bowl filled with various fruits, nuts, and roots.
The visitors unpacked the bedrolls they had carried with them and Cinnamon laid out some of the smoked "oosheesh", or ocean fish, which Reiki had caught in her nets two days before. The savory fish and the sweet fruits made a fine repast, seasoned as it was by appetites built by the long day's hike. Overhead the evening rain beat against the sloping leaf roof.
THE NEXT morning, Cinnamon was helping Nels unpack and arrange the empty plastic containers, vials, and pouches that they had brought along to store samples they would collect for later analysis by both the flouwen and Josephine. Seetoo had cleared off a shelf in a storage shed, and Cinnamon was going back and forth from the hut to the shed, Eve on her back in her backboard. Eve was keeping a suspicious eye on Seetoo, who was talking to Nels.
Nels and Seetoo were discussing genetics. It seemed that there was some similarity between the genetics of the two alien species, since they both had two sexes, even though the Jollys were bisexual and the humans monosexual.
"Chief Levibotanist Naals? Am I correct in assuming that some of your pollen was used in the creation of the seedling Eev?"
"Yes, that's right. Each parent generates a special sex cell that contains half of its normal genetic pattern. When the two cells merge, the two half-strands merge, and a new genetic pattern, the pattern of the child, is created."
"The question I was trying to formulate had to do with the actual fertilization process. Are parents selected for the most desirable characteristics?"
"Well, I know it does not seem logical, but the usual breeding process depends more on human emotions. The 'flower' that hides inside each women becomes fertile several times each year. If she has been exposed to a fertile man's 'pollen' then a child is begun. But while the sex act is very pleasurable, it is also very personal, and usually people will only perform it if they have strong feelings for each other."
"This fertilizing act ... does it involve much writhing around and groaning noises?"
Nels snickered. "It can."
"Because one of my eyes has observed such action between two of the humans here at the village. Reechaard and Raakee were watering themselves last evening in the Wide Pond, when a root at Reechaard's mid-trunk began to beh
ave most oddly."
"I just hope that Reiki didn't catch your eye peeking."
"My eye was at some distance."
"Actually, I am rather surprised that the two of them have resumed sex so soon after Reiki gave birth. Birth is hard on the human body and we have not yet made arrangements for birth control ..." He turned. "Cinnamon? Did you and John give the women the go-ahead to have sex?"
Cinnamon put down the rack of vials she was carrying and wiped sweat off her forehead. "Once the postpartum bleeding has stopped and the episiotomy healed there is no reason to avoid sexual intercourse. It is wise to practice some sort of birth control, but ..."
"You mean you women are ready already?" Nels said, coming over to her. "Why wasn't I told?" He slipped his arm around Cinnamon's waist. "Seetoo was just asking about the human mating process. Why don't we give him an up-close demonstration?"
"Excuse me?" asked Cinnamon in her best Reiki manner.
"Would a demonstration be possible?" interjected Seetoo. "Raakee and Reechaard had the relevant portions of their anatomy under the water."
Cinnamon twisted away from Nels and glared at Seetoo. "Excuse me?" she repeated dangerously. Nels didn't pick up the clue.
"Think of it as spreading information about our species, Cinnamon. After all, it's not as if we have never had sex before. While I was growing new legs you were always most helpful when ever anything ... arose. In fact you've been most welcoming before, and I thought I managed to see to it that you—"
"Yes," Cinnamon interrupted, "we've had good sex. And you're a good friend. Sometimes I am even in love with you. But that doesn't give you the right to assume that I am yours for the asking—that you can use me casually any time you like ..."
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