And speaking of that good ship, with Lieutenant Roehl’s assistance we were able to reconstruct their pre-impact orbital elements rather accurately, and actually managed to recover a few pieces of flotsam, from the very diffuse debris field still in orbit. Perturbations from the planet’s inner moon did a pretty thorough job of scattering most of it, including the largest piece of hull, which I badly wanted. Since there were only the two suit signals responding to our hails, I have closed the files on the other seven crew as LIA/PD. Memorial services were held three days ago, on the surface. It hurt, just to watch. Do we ever get to where it doesn’t hurt, Joe? Even though I have little love for the Navy Hymn as a piece of music, it certainly has its place.
We’re as secure here as twenty megatonnes of navy metal in fifteen hulls can make us, Joe. We’ve started work on two of our new bases, although it’ll be a token effort until those freighters arrive with the industrial fabricators and extra ordnance I ordered. Attachments 12 and 13. Don’t worry about us. Go find that leak, and keep any more Kruss from dribbling in. We’ll try to track their return leg from here, but their grav sensors are as good as ours, so no guarantees they won’t shake us.
Fifteen hulls - yes, I’ve sent both FTBs to shadow the Kruss, wherever they run. The Mercantiles will have to wait for the first commercial transport for a ride home, as will Lieutenant Roehl’s pet Kruss. The locals have several orders inbound, and I simply can’t spare a vessel to play taxi. Although right now the Mercs look happy as plebes on prom-night, digging into the planet’s biosphere with everything they brought on the Meredith. Everything we didn’t draft for humanitarian aid, that is. Even that semi-annoying RegNet reporter has been just doing her job and filing stories.
Although her big scoop will doubtless be the saga of the Survey Lieutenant gone native, defeating the Kruss Empire with one hand and hordes of barbarians with the other, against the orders of the local Admiral. Actually I’m being a bit paranoid. Kirrah - Lt. Roehl - has been scrupulous to edit the coverage to avoid exactly that spin (Attachments 1 and 2). First time I’ve seen a MacKenzie Bond actually work. But, the vid will show the most creative way of returning an enemy’s ordnance I’ve ever seen. I can’t wait for the Scrutineer’s reaction, when he hears ‘But your Equity, it was their illegal weapon in the first place!’.
Ok, I’m starting to ramble, it’s late, the Tac deployments and everything else you really need to know are in the attachments. Good night, Joe, and thanks for everything you’ve done, for me and for my mission, as well as for this planet and the millions of humans who call it home.
Godspeed, and good hunting
Luce
Chapter 53 (Landing plus one hundred eighty-five): Postlude
“What is this darkness? What is its name? Call it an aptitude for sensitivity. Call it a rich sensitivity which will make you whole. Call it your potential for vulnerability.” - Meister Eckhart, op.cit.
Report to the Ro’ath’la Elderhood, in the matter of Kirrah shu’Roehl and the arrival of the Star-humans. Copies to Magisters Slaetra shu’Urwakla and Brai’klao shu’Naei.
Dear Friends:
As we have by now all plainly seen, the ancient stories were much more than allegories and metaphors, and the prophecy that people would someday return from the stars was intended far more literally than any of us knew. Furthermore we can now confirm that the uncivil behavior which we sensed had its roots in our neighbors to the southwest, was supplemented by a force new to our experience. I have observed most attentively the events of this remarkable spring and summer, and now offer this assessment to be woven with your own.
One: Kirrah shu’Roehl. This has been in some ways the most challenging part of my task. Never in my experience has such strength-of-tools been combined with so little training in a civilized being, although this appears endemic to the culture in which she was nurtured. We may thank Source that our first visitor was so abundantly blessed with native heart-light and mind-cleanliness. We may also be thankful for the unfolding of events by which she first became linked to the lad Akaray, and through him, to her own kaena’hachk. It was via this link I was able to first observe, then guide her surprisingly retarded development in this area.
When I saw her finally open to darkness, I was unsure what form it would take. For one thing, we have so little experience with this happening for the first time in a full-grown person. Furthermore, I was forced to rely heavily on the tool-knowledge of her friend Do’ris shu’Finsh. When I realized where Kirrah was following her darkness, I believed it was going to be a near thing indeed, whether she would become lost in it. She teetered on the edge, yet her mind-cleanliness was working to save O’dai lives even as darkness was coming into its fully opened strength, and she was able to embrace the latter without losing the former, as is the risk in those coming so late to this lesson.
When she later opened, reluctantly but fully, to the child Ulla’ta her kaena’hachk had harmed, I knew she was safe. In my Assessment she is now firmly on the path to balance. As I write this, I can see the two of them through my window, sitting in the School courtyard together, making another costume for Slaetra’s old doll. I believe it’s intended to be a miniature of those wonderful ‘Survival Suits’ the Reg’num uses. The child has been greatly aided by several tendays in their healing device. The restoration of her eyesight and maimed hand has done much to restore her trust in life, and in Kirrah. Much, of course, remains to heal.
Yesterday Kirrah’s device-which-speaks faithfully reminded her that the date of rescue she calculated on first landing so long ago, had finally arrived. She appeared amused at her earlier fears. I sometimes wonder how much of my own concerned involvement with her process had to do with necessity, and how much with my fears for her, and for our people. Once again, I find myself re-learning how deeply Source delights in our trust.
Two: the Reg’num Dra’koo’nais. Here, we touch wonder and death-love and death-fear and remarkable gifts and profound ignorance, all in a thousand pieces, all roiling like an irwua-nest. For examples: in their language, the concept of strength seems inherently connected with ability-to-dominate, with no flavor of ability-to-create. Indeed they separate the very idea of shee’thomm most perversely into two words, one meaning ability-to-dominate and the other meaning risk-of-blame. Their closest word for healing seems to mean only body-repair. We appear to have scant choice but to conjoin with them, and while my fear tells me I cannot predict the outcome, it was only a few penstrokes ago I was re-learning my trust in Source. I therefore suspend further Assessment of this culture, while passing on a few encouraging comments about individuals representing it, in Assessments three through five following.
Three: Lucinda Fleetmaster. I have had a little opportunity to Assess her in person, and by the way, I wish each of you the opportunity to practice Assessment through one of their device-which-shows-images. I believe Lucinda is a truly heart-radiant warrior, one who has made some odd but apparently successful accommodation to the death-loving elements of her culture. Our material safety is in good hands with her above our world, and I am encouraged that one such as she has been given such shee’thomm among them.
Four: Ad’reen shu’Gilman. This woman would have made an excellent Wrth. She, and to some extent the man she is paired with, have also achieved their own viable balance with the death-love which permeates their culture. I would like to say that all Reg’num warriors who wield such terrible powers have ath’laz such as these. I cannot, but I am encouraged that such as these are drawn to their army, and I find further hope in the manner in which their Fleetmaster allowed them to avoid the punishment which their death-loving rules would otherwise have imposed for their brave actions on our behalf.
Five: the ‘regen tanks’. Far more than the simple instruments which Kirrah used to repair the heart and replace the blood of the soldier Ana’the so many tendays ago (ref. my interim report 4), these devices are able to reconstruct whole limbs and organs. I am told by one of their healers, whom I ha
ve no reason to disbelieve, that a person’s head could be removed whole from their body and still they would be repaired and ultimately, with much effort and practice, regain connection fully with their body. Yes, fully. Think about that, my beloved friends. For while we may deplore the theme by which their device-that-heals sees the body as but another machine, it also suggests that in our pursuit of wholeness, we may have neglected the body-as-machine to the detriment of our karadoiz. Another branch of the vine to consider.
Six: the Kruss. I have seen only one of these small persons, and must now infer their entire race-ath’la. I simply cannot. I can say that they are both physically overwhelming for humans one-to-one, and, by Kirrah’s account, that their culture has brought death and enslavement to every weaker people they have contacted. This is supported by their willingness to pervert healing tools into weapons, and indiscriminate weapons at that. Yet they too are part of Source’s creation. I do not know whether they will return to our world, and we may be thankful for the security of Lucinda’s fleet over our heads.
However in all prudence I took advantage of the ample opportunities to gather samples of life-braid1 from the one which was held prisoner for several tendays, while I tended its injuries and watched its most remarkable healing. I am relieved to report that its alien life-braid grew well in my small workshop, and was responsive to a range of standard attenuating agents2, and to two of the four small-life antagonists3 I designed for it. Samples are wax-sealed below on this parchment for your further study. I do not know whether the Reg’num deals in such life-tools, and indeed I am reluctant to mention their existence until we know more of their culture, since those tools could so easily be used to extinguish the Kruss as a species.
Unfortunately this also means we will be unable to take open advantage of the new learning for limb-regeneration we have obtained from my study of the creature’s life-braid. My few private experiments have shown it is adaptable to some other species, and I have no reason to doubt it would work with humans. If the Elderhood concurs, this gift must be left untouched for some little time yet, and we shall rely on their ‘regen tanks’ for this service. Indeed our new friends seem to attach so much value to our glatha-fruit, we should probably proceed with caution before opening other, larger questions.
Conclusions: The Reg’num and the Kruss both merit our close attention. Either could devour our little world if left unwatched. We are fortunate in our friends, most particularly Kirrah and Lucinda, and the former is now firmly on the way to healthy and productive adulthood. Watch the children, Akaray and Ulla’ta. I sense potential in them both. Life unfolds into life according to Source’s own pattern, and I release my fear-of-future, as a burden unworthy to be borne further. Stay watchful.
In life and light and life eternal,
Your servant and ro’shapa,
Issthe shai’Ro
the end
Translator’s notes:
-fira’toka, appears to mean “genetic material”
-sana’toka [lit: life-striker]. Meaning unclear in context, may indicate poison or catalytic genetoxin
-ol’toka - suggests bacteria or virus, although that meaning in the context of “designed” is inconsistent with known Talamae capabilities.
Appendix 1: Dramatis Personae
Arvida-Yee crew (Regnum Survey Service)
Captain William Karin Leitch, Regnum Navy, Detached to RSS
Lieutenant Commander Howell Docking Junior, first officer
Lieutenant Kirrah Katherine Roehl, Navigator First Class
Master Chief Samuel Chuwan Lee, Fleet Engineer Second Class
Lieutenant JG Gerald Archibald Parvane Sykes, Helm Second
Lieutenant Doris Amelia Finch, Sensor Specialist First Class
Ensign Sara Margellen Roe, Sensor Specialist Third Class
Lieutenant Angela McKay Foley, Contact Specialist First Class
Lt. Dr. Harrah Lynn Burnham, Life Science Specialist First Class
Regnum Navy Personnel
Ensign Robert Angeles (Argosy) Communications Officer Second Class
Ensign Karen Auracotta (Argosy) Contact Specialist Second Class
CPO Gary Cavanaugh - ‘Guns’ on Argosy Shuttle One
Captain Alexi DaCosta (Belleville) Battlewagon
Rear Admiral Lucinda Dunning - Trailway Base
Yeoman Maureen Fergus - Dunning’s batman
Marine Corporal Adrianne Gilman
Captain Lewis Graham (Meredith) light cruiser
Captain Angelo Krepescue (Utterson) Destroyer
Lt. Dr. Earl Lockwood - Utterson chief medical officer
Rear Admiral Carl Mattison (Leacock) Battlewagon
Admiral Sir Josiah McBain - Trailway CINC
Commander Rachel McKai, XO (Belleville)
Ensign Margaret Piersall, Argosy shuttle pilot
Yeoman Schneider - Argosy comm
Corporal Ali Sengli - Marine, Attila
Captain Vincent Steuben (Attila) Destroyer
Commander Sandish Tally, XO Argosy
Petty Officer Lorraine Thornlea, Fleet Engineer Second Class, (Argosy shuttle engineer)
Captain Sandra Wallace (Argosy) Destroyer
Lieutenant Marcus Warden, Regnum Marines (Argosy)
Lieutenant Commander Michael Willison, NavInt specialist (Argosy)
Regnum Mercantiles
Madame Marissa Taggart, United Dominion Farms (agriculture)
Elizabeth Einarson, RegNet News (reporter)
Irving Baldwin, VP Trailways Division, Planetation Corp. (colonizers)
Dr. Garth Pennington, Dir. Research - Atikokan Mining and Metals
Talamae Citizens
Agga’dai - Og’drai’s helmsman
Akaray - young boy, Kirrah’s first friend
Ana’the - King’s Guardsmen
Bra’dack - Lieutenant, Royal Cavalry
Brai’klao shu’Naei - Law professor
Crath’pae - riverboat captain
Doi’tam shu’Gamalar - Cavalry major
Do’thablu - carpenter
Hu’dakai - corporal, longbow
Irshe shu’Kassua - King’s Guard Sergeant
Janna’tha shu’Paddo - Kirrah’s page / assistant at the palace
Maka’ra - shipwright
Malafoth - Akaray’s father
Mastha’cha - Corporal, Kirrah’s bodyguard
Me’schana - Akaray’s mother
Mu’utaraee - Akaray’s older brother
Og’drai - riverboat captain
Ola’mata - Crath’pae’s crew
Prax’soua - King’s Guard (corporal)
Rash’koi - Border Lieutenant, archer
Slaetra shu’Urwakla - Kirrah’s tutor, school headmistress
Tai’kara shu’Naitha - Waterside Block shee’tho’vai
Talamae - the people, including culture
Tar’akai - King’s Guardsmen
Tash’ta - Kirrah’s maid
Wai’thago - blacksmith
Talamae Government (color codes of state dress)
Tsano shu’Teescha, King of Talam (blue/blue trim)
Taiwi shu’Wdatha, Scribemaster (black/black)
Opeth shu’Teeklae, Armsmaster(orange/orange)
Delima shu’Maakael, Guildmaster (red/blue)
Issthe shai’Ro, Priest/Counsellor (white/black)
Wrth Clansfolk
Elagai - junior Lieutenant, renamed Peetha
Graffkai’a - elder
Makkan’a - elder
Nakka’ti - Peetha’s sergeant
Paltok’a - elder
Peetha - dishonor-name given to Elagai
Rith - largest of the Wrth clans
Sath - Elagai’s birth clan
Tsaikka - Wyrakka’s mate and teka
Wyrakka - chief warrior of the Rith
O’dai Citizens
Amokano - Under-Captain
Dai - local god
Dorkalo - Under-Captain
Oka’sse - O’dai King
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Paedako - O’dai prince, son of Oka’sse
Parsh’ap - Paedako’s teacher
Schmado - Fleet-Captain
Staegro - Under-Captain
Ulla’ta - Injured girl
Kruss Names
Lssghagk - Xenomanipulator Second Class, captured at First Battle of Gleera
Pallagkss - trader, captain of Kassgee’s Esophagus
Pssittagk - Senior Xenodominator, ortho-mate to Lssghack
Pavattan Citizens
Pavoai - capital city
Uttra - southern city
Setta - southern baron (borders Talam)
Aneppa - horseleader
Tova - trader
Vesai - King’s ambassadorto Uttra
Tannakoi - king of Pavatta
Appendix 2: Glossary
3V - three-dimensional viewing tank, popular TV-equivalent
AGL - above ground level
AI - artificial intelligence
AP - anti-personnel weapon
AU - Astronomic Unit, approx. 150,000,000 km or 93,000,000 miles
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