Federation World

by James White

  “All right, then,” he said finally. “My only protection will be the tender’s force shield. I won’t carry anything in my hands, and will wear uniform coveralls and an open helmet with image-enhancing visor, and a Teldin-type backpack with a med kit and the usual supplies. The Teldins seem pretty flexible in the matter of clothing, so I would be displaying my physiological differences as well as showing them that I was unarmed.

  “The translator will be in my collar insignia,” he went on, “and the helmet will contain the standard sensor and monitoring equipment, lighting, and the translator by-pass.

  “Have I forgotten anything?”

  She shook her head.

  “Don’t worry about me,” he said awkwardly. “Everything will be just fine.”

  But still she did not speak. Martin reached toward her and carefully removed her glasses, folded them, and placed them on top of the control console.

  “I’m ready to go,” he said, then added gently, “sometime tomorrow…”

  Martin made no secret of his landing. He arrived at night with all the lander’s external lights ablaze, and came in slowly so as not to be mistaken for one of the larger meteors. Then he waited anxiously for the reaction of the inhabitants and authorities of the nearby city.

  With diminished anxiety and growing impatience, he was still waiting more than a full Teldin day later.

  “I expected crowds around me by now,” Martin said in bewilderment. “But they just look at me as they pass on by. I have to make one of them stop ignoring me and talk. I’m leaving the lander now and beginning to move toward the road.”

  “I see you,” Beth said from the hyper ship, then added warningly, “the chances of you being hit during the few minutes it takes you to reach the protection of the road are small, but even the computer cannot predict the impact point of every meteorite.”

  Especially the rogues which were the result of collisions in low orbit, Martin thought, and which dropped in at a steep angle instead of slanting in from the west at the normal angle of thirty degrees or less. But the odd behavior of the satellite debris which fell around and onto Teldi, and which so offended Beth’s orderly mind, faded from his mind at the thought of meeting his first Teldin.

  It would be a member of a species which had advanced perhaps only to the verge of achieving space-flight, and which still practiced astronomy in their dark, polar settlement. Such a species would have considered the possibility of off-planet intelligent life. Perhaps the idea might now exist only in the Teldin history books, but an ordinary Teldin should be aware of it and not be panicked into hostile activity by the sight of a puny and obviously defenseless off-worlder like Martin.

  It was a nice, comforting theory which had made a lot of sense when they had discussed it back on the ship. Now he was not so sure.

  “Can you see anyone on the road?”

  “Yes,” Beth said. “Just over a mile to the north of you, heading your way and toward the city. One person riding a tricycle and towing a two-wheeled trailer. It should be visible to you in six minutes.”

  While he was waiting, Martin tried to calm himself by examining at close range a stretch of the banked rock wall which ran along the side of the road. Like the majority of the roads on Teldi, this one ran roughly north and south, and the wall protected travelers from the meteorites which came slanting in from the west.

  The banked walls were on average four meters high and built from rocks gathered in the vicinity. The roads were rarely straight, but curved frequently to take advantage of the protection furnished by natural features such as deep gullies or outcroppings of rock. When east-west travel was necessary, the roads proceeded in a series of wide zig-zags, like the track of a sailing ship tacking to windward.

  Suddenly there was the sound of a short, sharp hiss and thud, and midway between his lander and the roadside there was a small, glowing patch of ground with a cloud of rock dust settling around it. A meteorite strike. When he looked back to the roadway, the Teldin was already in sight, peddling rapidly toward him and hugging the protective wall.

  Martin walked to the outer edge of the roadway to get out of its path. He did not know anything about the oncoming vehicle’s braking system, and it was possible that he was in greater danger of being run over by a Teldin tricycle than being hit by a meteorite. His action could also, he hoped, be construed as one of politeness. When the vehicle slowed and came to a halt abreast of him, Martin extended both hands palms outward, then let them fall to his side again.

  “I wish you well,” he said softly. Loudly and clearly and taking a fraction of a second longer, his translator expressed the same sentiment in Teldin.

  The cyclist looked like a cross between an overgrown, four-armed kangaroo and a frog which was covered with sparse, sickly yellow fur. Because of the being’s size and his own lack of defensive armament, Martin was acutely aware of the other’s long, well-muscled legs which terminated in huge, clawed feet, and of the enormous teeth which showed clearly within the wide, open mouth. Its four, six-fingered hands also had bony terminations which had been filed short and painted bright blue, presumably to aid the manipulation of small objects and for decoration. It was wearing a dark brown cloak of some coarse, fibrous material, and the garment was fastened at the neck and thrown back over the shoulders where it was attached in some fashion to the being’s backpack, probably to leave the other’s limbs free for peddling and steering its vehicle. There was no doubt that this was a civilized entity, and that the open mouth with its fearsome display of teeth was simply a gape of surprise and curiosity, not a snarl of fury presaging an attack.

  Perhaps there was a little bit of doubt, Martin thought nervously, and spoke again.

  “If you are not engaged in urgent and important business,” he said slowly while the translator rattled out the guttural gruntings and gobblings which were the Teldin equivalent, “I would be grateful if you could spare some of your time talking to me.”

  The Teldin made a harsh, barking sound which did not translate, followed by other noises which did. They sounded in Martin’s earpiece as “The conversation is likely to be a short one, stranger, if you do not move over here to the protection of the wall. Naturally I would be delighted to talk to you about yourself, the mechanism yonder in which you arrived, and any other subject which mutually interests us. But first there is a question…”

  The being paused for a moment. There was no way that Martin could read its facial expression on such short acquaintance, but from a certain tension and awkwardness in the way the Teldin was holding its limbs and body, he had a strong impression that the question was an important one. Finally it came.

  “Who owns you, stranger?”

  Chapter 6

  BE careful, Martin thought. The alien’s understanding of the word “own” might be different from his. Could the question involve patriotism, or loyalty owed to its country, tribe, or employer? Was the Teldin using some kind of local slang which the translator was reproducing literally? He dare not answer until he was completely sure of the meaning of the question.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “Your question is unclear to me.”

  Before the Teldin could reply, Martin introduced himself and began describing his planet of origin. He spoke of the Earth as it had been before the coming of the Federation, not the denuded and well-nigh depopulated planet that it had since become. Then he quickly went on to talk about the lander and the much larger hypership in orbit above them and, when the Teldin expressed sudden concern, he assured it that neither had anything to fear from the meteorites. He added that he, himself, did not carry such protection nor, for that matter, any other means of defense or offense.

  When he finished speaking the Teldin was silent for a moment. Then it said, “Thank you for this information which, in spite of being hearsay, could be of great importance. Does the being in the orbiting vessel own you?”

  In the earpiece he could hear Beth, who was monitoring the conversation, suppressing laughter. />
  “No,” he said.

  “Do you own it?”

  “No,” he said again.

  “You only act that way sometimes,” Beth said. “But be alert. Another pedal vehicle is heading out of the city toward you. It is painted brown and bright yellow, towing an enclosed trailer and flying some kind of pennant, with two people on board pedaling fast. It should reach you in about twenty minutes.”

  Martin bypassed the translator momentarily to say, “The local constabulary, do you think? I can’t react until they come into sight, when it would be natural for me to ask who and what they are. But our friend here worries me with its constant harping on ownership. And what does it mean by hearsay? I can’t give it a straight answer until I know why it thinks the question is so important.”

  He cut in the translator and went on to explain the relationship between Beth and himself. He was nonspecific regarding the division of their work, but he had to go into considerable detail on Earth-human social anthropology, cultural mores, and reproduction. But suddenly the Teldin was holding up two of its four hands.

  “Thank you once again for this interesting hearsay,” it said slowly, as if uncertain that the true meaning of the words was getting through to Martin. “You are answering questions which have not been asked, and not answering those which must be asked.”

  The brown and yellow tricycle came into sight just then. Martin said quickly, “The vehicle which approaches us at speed and flying a flag, and the beings propelling it. Is their mission important?”

  The Teldin glanced at it in a manner suggesting impatience. “It flies the pennant of the Master of Sea and Landborne Communications. Their mission has nothing to do with us and is of no importance compared with the visit of an off-planet being who avoids answering the most important question about itself…”

  “Just a couple of mailmen,” Beth said in a relieved voice.

  “… Your status is not clear,” the Teldin went on. “Do you or your life-mate own the vessels which brought you here?”

  “My status”… Martin thought. A little light was beginning to dawn. Aloud, he said, “The vessels are not our personal property, but we are responsible for their operation.”

  “But they are owned, presumably, by someone who directs you in their use?” the Teldin said quickly, and added, “You must obey this being’s directions?”

  “Yes,” Martin said.

  The Teldin made a loud, gurgling sound which did not translate, then it said, “You are a slave, Martin. Highly placed, no doubt, considering the nature of the equipment you are allowed to use, but still a slave…”

  Instinctively Martin stepped back as one of the being’s enormous hands swung toward him. But it stopped a few inches from his chin with one digit pointing at the Federation symbol on his collar.

  “… Is that the emblem of your Master?”

  His first thought was to strenuously deny that he was any kind of slave, and his second was to wonder what new complication would be the result of that denial. But the Federation was, in real terms, his master, as it was the master of all of its non-Citizens.

  “Yes,” he said again.

  The Teldin turned its hand, which was still only a few inches from Martin’s face, to display a bracelet on its thick, furry wrist. The bracelet supported a flat oval of metal on which an intricate design had been worked in several colors.

  “Like mine,” the Teldin said, “your mark of ownership is small, tasteful, inconspicuous as bents a slave in a position of trust and responsibility. But why did you ignore or evade the questions which would quickly have established your status?”

  “I was unsure of your own status,” Martin replied truthfully.

  He remembered their tutor telling them again and again that in an alien contact situation they must always tell the truth, although not necessarily all of it at once. Measured doses of the truth gave rise to much fewer complications than well-meant diplomatic lies.

  “I don’t like what I’m hearing,” Beth said. “The Federation does not approve of slavery or any form of…”

  “Now I understand,” the Teldin said before she could go on. “You thought I might be a Master and were being circumspect. Like the other passers by, I thought you were a Master and could not, therefore, speak first. But contact between ourselves and an other-world species would seem to be a project too important to be entrusted to a slave, regardless of its level of ability. My position forbids me saying anything which is directly critical of your Master, or any Master, but it seems to me that it would be more fitting if-if…”

  “My Master did the work itself?” Martin asked.

  “That was my thought exactly,” the Teldin said.

  Martin thought about their tutor and its enormous, sprawling body, and of the sheer size and complexity of any mobile life-support system capable of accommodating it, and he thought of that species’ immense lifespan. Carefully, and truthfully, he said, “My remarks should not be considered in any way critical or disloyal, but my Master is grossly overweight, very old, and has other projects demanding of its time and available energy.”

  “Since we are speaking face to face I can accept this information as factual until I have been instructed otherwise by my Master,” the Teldin said, and the sudden change in its manner was unmistakable. It added, “But my Master will not accept anything you say.”

  “For this reason,” Martin persisted, “I have been instructed to land on this world and gather information about your species and its culture so that my Master will know whom to approach with the initial offers of friendship and exchanges of knowledge.”

  “Your Master seems lacking in sensitivity and intelligence,” the Teldin said, this time without any apology.

  “Your Master might just as well have sent a radio transmitting and receiving device.”

  “That has already been tried,” Martin said, “without success.”

  “Naturally,” the Teldin said.

  The situation had gone sour, there could be no doubt about that. The impression given by the Teldin was that it belonged to an intensely status-conscious slave culture in which the Masters spoke only to other Masters or to God, and when a Master spoke to a slave, the slave had to believe everything it was told and, presumably, disbelieve everything it had been told earlier by a lowlier being.

  This is crazy, thought Martin. “What would have been your reaction if I’d been a Master?”

  “Had you been a Master,” the Teldin replied, “I would not have been able to give you any information until it had been vetted for content and accuracy by my own or another Master. Knowledge which is not passed down from a Master is, as you know, untrustworthy. The only assistance I could have given you would have been to arrange a meeting with another Master. Had you been a Master we could not have exchanged hearsay as freely as we have been doing.”

  “May this exchange continue?” Martin asked eagerly. “I have many questions. And answers.”

  “Yes, Martin,” the Teldin said. “It may continue until I have reported your presence and everything that has transpired between us to my Master, who will assess the value of the material and instruct me accordingly.

  “My curiosity is such that I am in no great hurry to make my report,” the being added. “And my name is Skorta.”

  “Thank you, Skorta,” Martin said, relieved. The atmosphere seemed friendly once more, but he still needed clarification on the Master-slave relationship. He said, “Will you make your report in person, and where?”

  “Careful,” Beth warned.

  “Thankfully, no,” Skorta said. “I must make a hearsay report by radio. The device is in my Master’s education complex in the city.”

  “Are you a teacher!”

  Martin could hardly believe his luck. It would not matter which subject Skorta taught, because it was sure to have a grounding in many subjects, and it was quite probable that the Teldin would be able to furnish them with all of the information necessary for the completion of their
assignment, possibly within a few hours.

  “Properly speaking, only a Master can teach,” it replied. “That is the law, I relay the approved information, suitably simplified for the age-groups concerned, to unruly little beings who only rarely think of questioning the validity of the information they receive. Even the words of a Master, as you know, may be doubted when they have been passed down through too many slaves.”

  “I should like to see your students,” Martin said, “and other people in the city. Would I be able to meet a Master?…”

  Martin felt like biting off his tongue. Without thinking he had blundered into that highly sensitive area again, and he could almost feel the atmosphere congeal. The Teldin made a soft, untranslatable sound which might have been a sigh.

  “Stranger,” it said slowly, “your presence here is an insult and an affront to our Masters, since it is plain that your own Master thinks so little of this world and its people that it sent a slave to us as an emissary. To my knowledge there has never been a greater insult, and I cannot even guess at what the Masters reaction will be.

  “But I am willing to take you to the city,” Skorta went on. “In fact, I am anxious to do so in order to prolong this contact with you, and to discover as much about your people and their civilization as I can before I am required officially to forget it. But I must warn you that the visit to the city could place you in great personal danger.”

  “From the slaves or the Masters?” Martin asked. He was beginning to like this visually ferocious, four-armed nightmare that was glaring down at him. He could be certain of very little in the present situation, but he was sure that this being was honest and had a measure of concern for his safety.

  “The slaves may restrain you if instructed to do so by the Masters,” the Teldin replied slowly, “but only the Masters bear weapons and only they may kill. Now, if you will climb into my carrier I shall transport you to the city.”

  “Don’t go,” Beth said, and gave reasons.