by Jim Rudnick
At the entrance they were met by more Enkians—but different ones.
These hosts were built the same as the Words Muse Enkians, but their feathered crests were of two different colors—blue and red. They had the same white robe and naked scaly feet and their sash had the same blue and red stripes. Same but different.
"Allow me," Uigoeri Qor, head of the Words Muse pyramid said, "to introduce to you the head of the Fine Arts Muse, Eecesoe Qig."
One of these new Enkians stepped forward, his feathered crest now puffed up, and the alien looked like he was very proud to have been so introduced.
"To the RIM Confederacy Ambassador and your team, we of the Fine Arts Muse would like to offer our heartfelt—is that correct—" he said to no one in particular, "welcome to our pyramid. Welcome. We have arranged for a small presentation to introduce you to our muse—would you all please follow me." Without any further discourse, he turned and left the stage, quickly moving over to the far side of this huge expanse of ground floor rotunda of their pyramid.
Against one wall, easels were setup in a long row—maybe more than three dozen of same. And on each was a canvas with some kind of a painting. Some, Tanner thought, as he got in the line to slowly pass along the row, were of real representational subjects. Enkians, pyramids, and sand dunes were some of the most common subjects. Others were abstracts of various colors, textures, and patterns. Some were very detailed, and some were cloudy like expressionism works. But all were excellent, Tanner thought, as he finished the row and then came down the back side where sculptures were also arranged in a similar row. Some were carved from the same stone as the ramps had been made from, that brown very hard stone. Others were metals, cast into shapes and forms that were somewhat representational and somewhat not so much. Again, abstracts and other unknowing styles were present, and Tanner had to admit this was great art. He thought that if he had had a full day to walk these two rows, he wouldn't have had enough time to even understand the basics of the arts he was being shown. Not even two days, he thought and he ended up finally joining the RIM group back on the stage. This was definitely Fine Arts, Tanner knew, and that was at least easy to understand.
After some goodbyes and the even more formal invitation from Qig, head of the Fine Arts Muse, to visit anytime—especially to attend their big monthly Arts Crawl when all the artists in the Fine Arts Muse offered up art for viewing.
Back on the bus, he looked at Bram and thought only if he'd had any luck.
"Sir, yes, Sir. From what I can tell, as a race, the Enkians know little, if anything at all, about how to 'cloud' a thought—hence yes, I can usually see what they're thinking to a degree. Sometimes, it's very, very easy—like I'm looking at a huge wall of filing cabinets, each with a small card on the front metal side of the drawer that is filled out with what lies inside. The closer to the center of where the Enkian has their focus, the easier it is to see. I can simply open the door and look inside, and that's the thinking behind whatever it is they're currently thinking about or saying. Sorry, that's a dumb metaphor, but it really is pretty easy. In fact, so easy that I can see rows and rows away of those filing cabinets to see what they thought five minutes ago or yesterday even. And to a lesser degree, I can also see what they'll be thinking and doing in five minutes and even in a few cases in an hour or more. I'm pleasantly surprised and can't for the life of me tell if my skill set has increased or if the Enkians are just very easy to read, Sir," he said and he shook his head as if the answer to that was yet unknown.
Tanner nodded. This was good to know. He now had a source to double-check whatever an Enkian told him, and reliable recon was always the best advantage to have in all things.
Then his Science officer spoke up—and he kept the volume down low too. "Sir, did you ... um ... get any of that art—so to speak?" he said.
Tanner could hear in his voice that this Science geek had looked at the same pieces he had looked at—and it meant little to him. Art was subjective, he knew, and art was not for everybody.
"Some, Karl, but not much at all. Probably an acquired taste that as yet I've not gotten either," he said and while that was probably true to a degree, still some of the art had amazed him with how he'd responded to it.
The bus wheeled around more dunes and across a huge flat wasteland of very hard-packed sand to another pyramid. The blue glass floors were bright in the sunlight, and the one they now approached was bigger than any other they'd been in. This pyramid had a set of doors right on the grade level and the bus pulled right up to the doors. There were no access down ramps, no stairs going down, and no stairs going up either. Instead, they were once again ushered into that huge pyramid ground floor rotunda, and the first thing they all noticed was the loud music playing all over the huge open space.
On stage here was another group of Enkians, but these had green and yellow feathered crests with matching colored striped sashes too.
Once more, the Words Muse head, Uigoeri Qor handled the introductions. He said, "May I now introduce Aeimeki Qir, head of the Music Muse here on Enki."
This Enkian almost seemed to strut up to meet them and half-bowed to the RIM ambassador.
Small talk ensued, and Tanner looked around the huge space instead of listening to the niceties.
Over a few hundred feet away an orchestra—at least that's what he would have called it—played the music they were listening to right now. The conductor, Tanner noted, had an eye on the group on the stage, and someone must have signaled him as the music began to play softer and then slowly died out.
Tanner turned back to the ambassador's area, and as he did, the music began again but louder than before. He had no idea as to what the music was, but with more than one hundred live musicians on both familiar and unfamiliar instruments, played with that kind of passion, the music stirred him again. He tapped his foot at first but then stopped as the rhythms were varied and he couldn't keep up. But the melody line he loved—he learned it in less than a couple of verses, and it was enough once more for him to realize that these were professionals of a caliber he'd never before experienced.
That thought alone carried him through the next two pyramids, and before he even entered them, he knew he would be more than impressed.
At the Dance Muse pyramid, with Enkians who had gray and brown feather colorations, he was enthralled with the lyrical dance that was a full forty-minute presentation. The way these Enkians moved and how they were able to pass on feelings and emotions that he was able to not only "get" but understand too was mind-boggling. And I'm an alien to them and their culture ... what must these arts do to Enkians would be the real question.
At their final pyramid, Performance Muse, the Enkians with their purple- and orange-feathered crests and sashes treated the RIM group to a full two-act play. The story was about an Enkian from one muse pyramid who fell in love with an Enkian from another muse pyramid and the issues they faced. Love does conquer all, it seemed, no matter whether a human or an alien. And that's exactly what this play presented.
On the way back to the Words Muse pyramid, there were many conversations among the RIM group, and their Enkian hosts chimed in with answers where needed.
Enki, they said, was made up of the five muses—Words, Dance, Music, Performance, and Fine Arts. Each had hundreds of pyramids all around the planet. Each had their own followers who lived, breathed, and died with their muse. Each had no time or interest in the other muses. Each was charged with the duty to follow their muse with passion and to make it the most important part of their lives.
But yes, there were often difficulties. Some Enkians tried to surpass their limitations, and that's what the Militia was all about. Raised to be completely honest and uncaring about any of the muses, their jobs were to follow the orders of the jurors—the ruling judicial power on Enki and to enforce the laws and judgments of the jurors. Each pyramid had a Militia stationed within it to help the local muse council run the pyramid.
The Resources group was another e
qually important group. These are the geeks and nerds as we call them, Tanner thought. The Resources group was responsible for the technology, the mining, and the manufacturing on the planet, as well as the agriculture in those areas of Enki where things would grow.
One of the administrators said nicely, "Mr. Ambassador, it's like the arts run the world and everyone else just isn't so important. They do the bidding of each of the muses—well, unless something is sent to these jurors for a trial perhaps?"
One of the Words Muse leaders nodded and leaned forward, his finger with that small talon nail pointing directly at that RIM administration man.
"That is a concise way to describe what we are, what we do and yes, how any issues are decided. Then I would think that this tour was a success—we thought it better to show than to tell our RIM ambassador about what Enki is all about," he said and there were looks of satisfaction among the Enkians on the bus. Well, looks of satisfaction if rippling feathered crests counted for anything. Tanner recalled the paintings he'd seen in the Fine Arts Muse pyramid. Wonder how someone could buy one of those... He noodled this around in his brain and decided he'd ask about that as soon as he could
CHAPTER TWO
In one of the smaller annex pyramids, located next to but still attached to the Fine Arts Muse pyramid, a meeting of the Enkian leadership was in full swing. In a small conference room, more than seven of them were arguing and the topic was the RIM Confederacy.
"That is just something we should consider," Eecesoe Qig said, trying to make his point that they would be foolish to ever be honest with these aliens. While he was the leader of the Fine Arts Muse, he could not order the rest of them to follow his lead.
That got a few heads nodding, and yet others present disagreed.
"I do not think that you have considered all of the various items that we've learned about this Confederacy. We have been studying them for over seventy years, and from what we know, they are a well-run democracy-styled society. All they want is for us to join—and as Words has the lead on this—we do not have a vote on that. Only the Words Muse can do that for all of Enki."
Around the table, more heads nodded. Each of the Enkians was involved in this discussion because each of them was a department head.
Each was responsible for the future in their own area for their muse citizens.
And each was fed up with the fact that Words would be the controlling muse for the whole RIM membership.
Words Muse had followed the Fine Arts Muse orders of over fifty years ago and had sent the message to the RIM Confederacy. It was that message that had brought this RIM group to them to offer up membership in the Confederacy. And it was that feeling of being personally involved with this that was the sore point for most of them at the table.
Some, however, felt that it was Words' job to do as they were ordered to do—and to do no more. But that was not the consensus at the table.
"We need to be honest with the aliens, but we do not need to tell the RIM ambassador or anyone in that group what we are planning. Do we at least agree on that?" one said and that received more nods—but again not all around the table.
"Not seeing it," some said and few supported that feeling.
No consensus meant little would be done, everyone knew ... and that's how it looked to each of them.
#####
Down three floors underground, in a small laboratory tucked off one of the wings of the Naval Base technology building, three scientists in white lab coats were staring up at a large display screen. They were looking at a spreadsheet full of numbers and macros that made long formulas appear in the proper cells.
"Andre, are we absolutely sure that the formulas are exact?" one said.
Andre smiled and clicked a couple of keys on the keyboard in front of him, and the spreadsheet compressed as a lengthy formula came on screen. He scrolled it down to the bottom of the text box and then back up to the top.
"You can certainly double-check my entry—but yes, it's exact," he said. A few key presses made the formula disappear, and the spreadsheet took over the same full-screen display.
"The numbers do not lie. This metal—more than three hundred square feet of it from the Enki probe—is an element we do not know. It appears to be inserted somewhere in the table of elements as HREE bound—but somehow it has some yttrium or lanthanide's factors. No matter at this point, as we begin more tests later today. But at this point, the numbers above show, that it has—or may have as testing will either prove or disprove, some interesting features. One of which we think might be a toughness factor that we at this point can't measure. But testing will give us some ideas," Andre said as they all stared up at the numbers.
The scientists continued to stare up at the spreadsheet and ponder the numbers that were there.
"Testing. What kind of testing are we doing, Andre," the same scientist asked.
"Standard stuff for new elements—not that we have a standard group of tests. We'll use Atomic Emission Spectroscopy or AES, ICP-MS Analysis, Carbon and Sulfur Determination, Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy or EDS, and Gravimetric and Volumetric Wet Chemistry Analyses too. You know, the full gamut and hopefully we can determine exactly what it is," Andre said.
"It sure cuts easily, though," one of them said and he was right. The automatic shearing machine had made easy work of cutting smaller ten-foot-by-ten-foot panels.
The one scientist who'd been asking the questions offered up one more. "Can we test something else too? Can we use a full set of Projectile and Ray tests too?" he said.
Andre raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Done, and the results will be available in a few hours," he said as he typed in the extra tests and they were done for now.
#####
The Words Muse pyramid, like all the Enkian pyramids, was a complete city within a series of attached pyramids. In this muse, there were five interconnected pyramids. One was taller than the rest, and the leaders of the Words Muse met here daily. While the other smaller pyramids were mostly a collection of citizen apartments or common areas like cafeterias, games rooms, or lounges, the main function of the largest pyramid was to house and showcase their muse. Many of the lower floors held writers lounges and playwrights workshop rooms. Then there were the editing studios where those who wrote the lyrics for songs or words for show tunes worked daily. There were also larger presentation rooms where authors read their manuscripts, chefs compared their recipes, and other Words Muse citizens held small shows and performances to display their work.
The biggest presentations made by Words Muse citizens were held in the huge ground floor rotunda area, which was also used by the jurors. Here, the jurors presided over any of the cases and trials the Words Muse had on the dockets. Now there were only a couple of minor cases and trials pending.
The main pyramid was tall, more than a thousand feet from the base to the very top. At the very top of the Words Muse pyramid was a room that only the leaders had access to. At the door stood a brace of Militia guards, who made sure to have each of the five leaders check in with them before gaining access to the room. Inside the room was a simple round table with five uncomfortable chairs. While that didn't make their meetings much shorter, it did make them all shift and squirm just as they were doing right now.
Uigoeri Qor slapped the table once more to get some kind of order and the other four quieted down.
"Look, I know we have similar thinking on this—but what is it we might be missing? What is it we need to consider to help our cause? Ideas, please?"
Everyone started talking at the same time once more. He sighed and slapped the table once more, then again, and again. He looked to his immediate left and nodded to the Enkian beside him.
"Uugredi, please … you begin. And I would ask that the rest of you stay quiet until he is done," Uigoeri said and he slapped the table to ensure that at the least they knew he was going to try to ensure each would have a turn to speak. His beak cracked as he slammed it down a few times to emphasize his po
int.
"Uigoeri, thank you for starting with me—and yes, as you all know, I along with Uangriu, we run the muse here at Words. Our work is ongoing and yes, lengthy, and all encompassing. But what I have to say does not cover the muse itself—instead, I want to speak to what it is we want to do as a whole," he said as his feathered crest rippled and then lay down, an Enkian sign of importance. He shifted in his seat and then leaned forward to look at all of them around the table, his beak chattering slightly.
"We face a major opportunity here, to put a Words Muse male—yes, I mean Uigoeri here—into the opening up leadership of the jurors. As we know, the current leader, Iavoesi Qax, will leave office in just a month. He has made it well known that he will endorse no one—so we must take that as an opportunity to fill that position with our own leader. We agree there, I believe, completely within this room," he said and that did get several nods.
"So, using the RIM Confederacy to help us do that—is not only taking advantage of the opportunity that their current membership offer brings us—but as we know, we can parlay that and be successful. Uigoeri will be the next head juror is the answer. Our answer," he said and that got more nods.
Uanstard Qor, the Words Muse Enkian who looked after the Militia, butted in. "And, as we all know, we have the muscle to push this through. Yes, we are taking advantage of an opportunity of using the RIM Confederacy to gain our own ends—but that's what opportunity is—and we have it right now," he finished off and slapped the table in front of him.
Uigoeri smiled and held up his hand to stop them. He was one of the few Enkians who used a light polish on his hand talons, and it shone now in the late afternoon light that flowed into the room. While the windows were the same blue as was used everywhere else on the pyramid, up here they were a deeper hue as the windows were much thicker.