Dadr'Ba

by Tetsu'Go'Ru Tsu'Te

  P’Ko gazed at the floor, then slowly realized that the floor showed a beautiful intricate pattern of tiny red, gold, lavender, and green stones. P’Ko realized that it must have come from the asteroids that had been incorporated into Dadr’Ba’s mass when Dadr’Ba first set out from Or’Gn. He had seen jewelry made from small pieces of these rocks, here was a whole floor made from them.

  P’Ko’s mind began to race, how could all this add up? This beautiful woman? A friend of rough and gruff Mi’Ka? All this wealth compared to Mi’Ka’s grotto? The car? The garage behind the invisible door? An elevator with no controls? That opens directly into a luxury suite? How could this be real?

  Could he be dreaming? How could this beautiful, unbelievably wealthy D’En even consider being a mentor for someone like “me?” A U’Te striving to become a Mi’Nr. Something these people must think of as going from low to lower?

  The woman spoke, she introduced herself as “Z’Shi,” it was the same voice from the car and the elevator, soft sweet with a slight D’En accent. All automated voices had a D’En accent so P’Ko didn’t think that Z’Shi’s car and the elevator would be anything other than the standard automated voice heard all over Dadr’Ba.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, come in and please, take off your street sandals and respect my home by using house slippers. My home is one of my companions; I’m sure you agree it’s important to respect our companions?” P’Ko nodded agreement, not yet finding his voice and having more than once considered turning around and backing out of this venture. Z’Shi’s words were soft, kind and pleasant, yet authoritative.

  Just inside the apartment was a landing and off to the side was a pair of house slippers, obviously for him beside a small pair of sandals. P’Ko stared at the delicate demure sandals, amazed at the proportionality of Z’Shi’s feet to her little frame.

  P’Ko felt troubled, almost ashamed as he slipped off his dusty, rough-hewn mechanic’s street sandals and placed them next to Z’Shi’s pristine pair. He was a little relieved to note that the landing appeared to have a sort of air shower built in, feeling a breeze against his feet that slowly subsided. After putting on the house slippers, P’Ko nudged his street sandals a little further away from Z’Shi’s.

  Z’Shi had waited patiently and gave no indication that she paid any attention to P’Ko’s actions. She invited P’Ko to follow her into the drawing room.

  The gem quality floor felt smooth as P’Ko’s house slippers glided across the floor, looking and feeling like walking on wet ice, but when weight was applied had the solid feel of walking on very dry ice.

  Z’Shi flowed across the floor as if air carried her, and as she turned P’Ko saw that her dark hair had a reddish tint to it, and it draped all the way to the small of her back. Z’Shi motioned for P’Ko to sit on some cushions near a low table upon which sat a white teapot with two matching cups on a tray, the tea set decorated with an intricate design that resembled a snowflake made up of a combination of characters that P’Ko could make no sense of.

  Arranged around them, sitting on stands, strange, intricate devices or instruments sat, some large some small. P’Ko couldn’t recognize any of them, but he guessed that they were musical instruments. He studied them, some were horn-shaped showing some simple, some complex waveguides ending in flares, others had strings over a box that should serve to resonate and amplify. Yes, they are musical instruments, but nothing like any he had ever seen before.

  Z’Shi sat down across from him, even sitting; she was shorter than P’Ko. Her bio-mods, what else could it be, had to be extensive, and he wondered why anyone would want to be shorter, smaller or petite.

  Before P’Ko could muster the courage to speak Z’Shi began, “I am Z’Shi, Mi’Ka, and I have been friends since the beginning. I am an artist, a historian, and entertainer. Mi’Ka told me very little about you only that she considers you to be a very special person and is in need of mentoring.”

  “As for the rest, she prefers that I make my observations and come to my own conclusions. That said, the very fact that she referred you to me speaks volumes” – she continued talking as she began serving the tea, maintaining her gaze in P’Ko’s direction with only occasional, friendly eye contact. She poured the tea perfectly, without spilling a drop.

  “No one knows you’re here; there was no need to use your tracking disabled TaC-B. Ever since you got into my car, the monitoring system would have you on a secluded walk.” P’Ko sat dumbfounded, not knowing what to do or say. “You’d still have been able to send and receive messages, but our location is masked.” Then she added, “My work requires the utmost of discretion.”

  “I can see by your movements, that you are martial arts practitioner, you need to speak to your sensei about how to mask your movements, you’ve been lucky. There are some among the CA security forces trained to spot the martial artist, and they would not hesitate to put you under arrest for suspicion of martial arts activities.”

  A flash of P’Ko’s final altercation with Dan’Zu and rescue of Tn’ raced through P’Ko’s mind, followed immediately with imaginings of a CASS raid in the middle of the night. Thoughts of being stunned, apprehended and interrogated about his martial arts activities. Demands for information about who taught him and who knew about it.

  P’Ko’s throat froze, and he gagged spilling his tea. Z’Shi produced a napkin that had sat unnoticed upon the serving platter. P’Ko apologized profusely and offered to leave. Z’Shi, who had moved next to him placed her hand on his arm and gently refused his offer to leave.

  Z’Shi returned to her original seat as P’Ko slowly regained his composure. P’Ko starting to think through things, reminding himself that the Dan’Zu Tn’ incident was years ago and slowly put his CASS fears aside.

  .

  P’Ko apologized again “I’m so sorry, all this is overwhelming, I didn’t know, you don’t look like…” then “Do you know martial arts?” After a deliberate pause that said “I’m going to tell you something in trust and that trust must never be broken,” regaining eye contact, Z’Shi replied, “It is one of my many skills.”

  The contrast in P’Ko’s mind couldn’t have been greater; it was almost as if they were opposite magnetic poles or ends of the universe. On one end, this petite, frail looking woman living in a luxury apartment and on the other end, his burly, gruff, tattooed sensei that lives in a converted cargo container in an Ol’Tn junk yard. Yet, both know, or seem to know martial arts.

  Z’Shi appears to be extremely knowledgeable and possesses the observation skills needed to recognize the body language of a martial artist, despite her words maybe that’s the limit of her skills. P’Ko couldn’t believe it and made a conscious attempt to mask his disbelief.

  P’Ko began to slowly realize that Z’Shi was carefully watching him, not obviously or directly, but like a martial artist watches their opponent. Not just focusing on this part or that, but watching in whole, assiduously, every move, and what’s more, she wanted him to know it. Her eyes were attuned to his every movement, as sure as Mi’Ka could perceive psychically what most people were thinking, P’Ko realized that Z’Shi could see from visual clues, eye movements, trembles, muscle tensions, what someone is preparing to do, what they’re feeling and maybe even thinking.

  P’Ko realized that Z’Shi must know martial arts, and was ashamed that he doubted.

  Z’Shi seeming to know what was going through P’Ko’s mind. Having wordlessly confirmed to him one of her secret talents she relaxed her gaze. P’Ko felt his tension lessen but still felt small and insignificant setting across from Z’Shi.

  He felt like he was in the presence of an advanced life form, someone from another dimension, then Z’Shi reached across the table to P’Ko’s hand and gently squeezed it. The remaining tension that had built up drained away and she became the cute, petite, girlish figure that met him when he first entered.

  With a wave of her hand, the adjacent wall turned to an ocean beach, the sound of waves agai
nst the shore filled the room. Neither one of them spoke for a while, only watched the seascape as they finished their tea. This sea scene was far different from the one in P’Ko’s dream, and P’Ko knew from his first sight of Z’Shi that she wasn’t the woman he had seen in his dream. But Z’Shi possessed a powerful quality that belied her stature and physical appearance, as profound and compelling and mysterious as the ocean in the scene before them.

  Then in response to some hidden movement, the scene faded and returned to being a wall. Z’Shi broke the silence and said in a soft, sweet tone. “Now we must decide on the subject of mentorship; we shall leave it to the “dance” choose.” She gracefully stood and walked up onto a low stage that rose, silently from the floor and the walls seemed to move further away, Z’Shi motioned for P’Ko to join her.

  She took a stance and stood motionless, P’Ko realized that this was going to be similar to some of the exercises from his martial arts training and reflected her stance. Then, as if on cue music began to play.

  It was probably from some stringed instrument, maybe even one of the instruments that had been arrayed against the walls, presumably even played by Z’Shi but P’Ko’s focus was drawn towards Z’Shi.

  She struck a pose and waited for P’Ko to mirror it. Then without another word she began to move, P’Ko followed, it was to be like one of his martial arts mirroring exercises. Slowly at first following along with the music, he became totally engulfed in the music and matching her movements. Though still in her robes, her actions hinted of a strong, lean body concealed beneath.

  The gravity here, notably less than on the martial arts floor down in Ol’Tn made it difficult at first to follow Z’Shi’s moves, yet his practice in Ol’Tn while living and going to school in the lower G Nu’Tn gave him some experience with adapting to changing G’s.

  P’Ko adjusted his speed and momentum to compensate for the altered gravity and followed Z’Shi’s lead slowing and extending some movements more than what he was used to.

  Soon he began to trust Z’Shi’s lead; this was not martial arts, it was dancing, he became aware of the music and how the moves aligned with the sound. Their movements focused on grace, a moving art form, geometry in motion, physics, engineered to explore and highlight the limits of a bodies capabilities.

  P’Ko had never danced like this before and began falling in love with the experience. The feeling of dancing, floating on the music and flying on air. He watched Z’Shi as she moved, not focusing on any one part of her body, but all of her body at once while letting the music whisper into his ears telling him what move is coming next.

  Then, there was a short pause in the music. Quick eye contact, and nod. P’Ko took the lead and was spellbound as he watched Z’Shi mirroring his every move, he felt Z’Shi’s focus upon him, not staring but observing him with all her senses and missing nothing. She mirrored his every move, his body and Z’Shi’s linked.

  P’Ko adjusted and shortened his movements because he felt the restriction in the robes that Z’Shi wore. The mind-bending experience made him dizzy, and he fell out of step with the music, and slowly sank to the floor to brace himself with his hands to keep from collapsing completely. P’Ko felt a wave of emotion flood over him, he failed.

  The music had stopped, and Z’Shi was kneeling down beside him with her arm over his shoulders, cooing into his ear, “It’s okay, everything is going to be all right. You did very well.”

  ____________________________

  P’Ko hadn’t seen Z’Shi since their first meeting but had been in touch with her; he had an awkward time telling his parents. P’Ko’s parents have never heard of the alias Z’Shi had said to him to use. They were somewhat bewildered when he told them she was going to be his mentor. The official directory described her as a mid-level official working for the CA. P’Ko figured that Ma and Ba were probably relieved that he hadn’t chosen La’Na and Fa’Na.

  P’Ko had told them that he met Z’Shi through one of his teachers, which was often the case. People are wanting to find a mentor or are available to mentor frequently work through the teachers at school.

  Teachers act as filters or referral agencies, and sometimes even mentor themselves. He thought of Mi’Ka as one of his teachers and an advisor of sorts; the thought crossed P’Ko’s mind of Mi’Ka as a mentor, and he cringed, that would be bizarre, he’d have to guard that thought, he told himself; there’s no telling how Mi’Ka would respond.

  Using the strange message interface Z’Shi had used to contact him, P’Ko sent Z’Shi his modest sexual bio-mod preferences, avoiding some of the outlandish mod’s some of his friends were toying with. He trusted in Z’Shi’s role as his mentor to make any changes she thought necessary and she replied with some changes and suggestions that P’Ko wasn’t even aware were available. P’Ko agreed to her recommendations, without modification.

  He sought the advice of Mi’Ka on the work related mods since P’Ko had limited experience with what it takes to be a Mi’Nr. When it was all done P’Ko hoped that bio-mod requests have proper security controls, the thought of what Z’Shi and Mi’Ka had planned for him being made public made P’Ko want to go and hide.

  Then he prayed that his bio-mod request would be approved, if they were rejected, he and possibly his parents would have to try to explain or justify them. P’Ko would rather retire.

  P’Ko hoped that Z’Shi’s involvement would help. He liked Z’Shi and was pretty sure she liked him, and she had influence and power that P’Ko couldn’t fathom. P’Ko thought that Z’Shi almost has to have influence that goes all the way to the CA.

  P’Ko’s thoughts began to stray toward what the mentoring might be like. Z’Shi was subdued and mysterious, and P’Ko could only guess about what lay beneath the robes Z’Shi had been wearing. The way Z’Shi moved was provocative, it excited him, Z’Shi was confident but reserved and controlled. She could be kind and gentle and seemed to play at timidity while maintaining a comfortable, inviting atmosphere. Yet, she held an edge, could it be that all women are like this when you get close to them? It made P’Ko anxious.

  Chapter 23, P’Ko’s Bio-mod Approval

  Zng’To[64] reviewed the bio-mod request before him and cross-matched it with the job qualification requirements, noted that the bio-mod cost exceeded the total authorized by the CA for graduation job placement. He was about to tag it rejected, which would send a “non-qual” message to the job placement office, and automatically queue up the alternate career choice. But this “P’Ko” character had selected Mi’Nr category jobs for his primary and all the alternates as well.

  All of P’Ko’s job choices required much the same level of modification. Ever since the Equal Job Rights Protests, the system was set to allow for only one non-qual job choice on a person’s application. The system shouldn’t have allowed all the alternate career selections to be the same non-qual category. There must be some glitch in the system, and this U’Te must be insane.

  There’s been U’Te’s trying for Mi’Nr jobs in the past, especially since the Equal Job Rights Protests. The CA finally had to give in to a few but then managed to impose fiscal, safety and quality performance restrictions that made most U’Te’s overqualified cognitively, underqualified physically and cost prohibitive financially.

  It would be easier for a Mi’Nr to qualify for a U’Te job. The smarter ones would be plenty smart enough for many U’Te jobs, and Mi’Nr’s are psychically superior to U’Te’s, aside from height and reach, but it would be a waste of a valuable resource to have a Mi’Nr doing a U’Te’s job.

  Fortunately, in Zng’To’s lifetime, he didn’t know of, and never heard of a Mi’Nr ever applying for an U’Te job. There are certainly service sector U’Te jobs that a Mi’Nr would qualify for, but none ever had.

  The database shows a few Mi’Nr’s having been selected and placed in U’Te jobs shortly after the protests but a Mi’Nr has never been chosen for a D’En job.

  After the protests few U’Te’s were chosen for what
had been D’En job’s but the job descriptions were immediately changed and they were placed at the very lowest tier and never afforded the opportunity for advancement or promotion.

  The few Mi’Nr’s that had been put in U’Te service sector jobs didn’t do well and winded up applying for early retirement.

  Zng’To was just about to flag the bio-mod order as unresolvable and forward it to his supervisor, simultaneously sending a copy to the CASS when he spotted the fund site in the comments area. As soon as he linked the fund site to the order, the deficit was cleared with about twenty-five percent to spare. Zng’To reviewed the rest of the bio-mod request and marked it approved, clearing the job placement pending status and sent a copy of the approved and upgraded bio-mod order to the Med Group.

  Chapter 24, Amazing Meeting

  Su’Zi sat quietly on the secluded beach watching the waves roll in, and the clouds drift by. The programmers had done an excellent job of simulating O’M’s weather. Su’Zi could see no discernable repetition in the clouds, all of them, even those of the same type are ever so slightly different and followed the weather pattern they were modeled after. Sector two’s settlement was some distance away up the coast to the north on the south side of the bay across from settlement three.

  The evolution of the virtual settlements was progressing rapidly. The developers managing the simulation, claim to use all the very latest, updated information about O’M. The sim-masters caution that many rapid and sometimes drastic changes will appear, like what is expected when they reach the real O’M and Dadr’Ba will have to adapt.

  Su’Zi realized that this simulation is a teaser, the CA is using it to groom the way people are thinking. She looked around wondering what the next step might be?