Are we really no better than cockroaches and rats? That Groki said that, and no one really answered him. Then Heptosh said the same thing. I mean, like, even where there are good people, the kids all grow up to be bad, and all that.
But the Fa-tzi-zhi have stayed pretty good. The Groki was right about that too. There are some bad ones, such as Zhue and Nyu, but most of them are pretty good. Even they will probably turn out okay when they've grown up. Their parents weren't bad, nor any of our grandparents. Bad stuff happens sometimes, but it all gets settled in the way of the fathers.
I guess that's what he meant. We stick to the ways of the fathers because we don't have much to make us go out and do bad stuff. We just have our sheep, our houses and the land. There's plenty to eat, and wool to make clothes with, and dirt to make bricks with. No one comes about selling metzig torches, computers and fancy food from other planets. If we try out new things, people like Uncle Zhue Paw get upset and they call a village council meeting. As long as everybody sticks to the ways of the fathers, we're happy, our parents help us find a wife so we don't get hung up loving someone we can't have.
I'm sure I would have been happier if I had stayed. But the Groki's right again. I wouldn't be happy if I went back. I'd not fit in -- thinking too much about Tsaphar, wanting to visit the big market and drink coourzt. I'd also probably worry about what he said, about the time of humans being almost over.
I've got this mission to do, to get the golden tablets. I still don't have any idea how I'm going to do that.
-- Well, Neuryzh is going to take me off somewhere in his ship. Maybe he'll help me find them.
Nakham wants to lead the sheep to the water now. I guess it is about time.
I talk to him in Akkadi. 'Tomorrow, I go away one day. You come help sheep? Yes?'
'Sure. I'll take them to the water for you.'
'Thank you. Tell Tsaphar I love her.'
'I'll tell her.
He makes me wish I had a brother.
18
the break of day at the space port
the first rays of the sun touch the roof
the utz and his pupil prepare to board
a small translucent vessel
Neuryzh's ship is a lot different than Heptosh's. It's as though it's made of jelly or something. At first it's as hard as metal on the outside, but as soon as Neuryzh wants it to, it sucks me in.
I'm sitting in here as though I'm suspended in jelly. I can see all about us. In fact, I can see even better than from outside.
I don't see any controls like on Heptosh's ship, though. I suppose he runs it from inside his head like he does his carrier.
I've brought the computer along, like Neuryzh asked me to.
'Every thing's ready,' he says.
The roof of the port opens up like a flower bud, and suddenly, we're going up. I don't feel any lift like I do on Heptosh's ship.
'Are we already -- er -- simulating linear movement?' I ask. I say it in Nephteshi, because we don't have those words in Fa-tzi-zhi.
'No. This ship doesn't work that way. I'll explain it to you. Friend Heptosh told you about atoms, did he not?'
'Yes.'
'Humans have discovered the realm of hyperspace, in which location coordinates of each atom can be altered. That's what helps logical relocation. Now, there are also other coordinates in the same realm that program the laws of physics in other ways.'
'How?'
'Each atom is programmed to both produce gravity and to respond to the gravitational force of other atoms. This gravity provides weight that varies with the size of each atom, and, of course, makes for collective weight in a group of atoms or molecules. This, in turn, is responsible for forward momentum and centrifugal force. Humans have discovered how to reprogram an atoms location, and thus move their ships about by changing their location in the universe, but reprogramming the gravity of an atom is far more complicated. I don't think humans will ever develop that capability. Our ships have been doing that since long before humans were even birthed -- that and other properties of atoms as well.
'I'll demonstrate.'
Suddenly, I see stars flying past us faster than I ever have.
'Look. Over there is your own solar system.'
Wow! And all the stars are moving into the position I'm used to seeing them on Kalodzu-Famta!
'You recognise the night sky as you used to see it, yes?'
'Yes!'
'There's your planet straight ahead of us. We'll go down close to the ground. I can make this ship transflective, so it will only reflect what's on the other side. To the people below, we'll look like the blue sky above us.'
Now, we're zooming towards the planet. It's getting bigger and bigger, but suddenly we're slowing down.
'Let's see. Your village was close to the central Kalodzu spaceport, wasn't it?'
'No! It was a whole day's journey!'
'I mean, compared to other parts of the globe. I'm sure it would take you many months to walk some places. Now, there's the space port. Do you recognise it?'
I see the side of the brick mountain, and there's the other smaller square pointed mountain where we went underground. I think we're almost over the market, where I first met Heptosh.
'Down there! I kept my sheep there sometimes!'
'Now which way is your village?'
'I see the path -- that way. Oh! There's someone leading their sheep!'
'I'll magnify the image.'
Now it looks like we're really close.
'I think that's Ngowa!'
'Good. Let's follow the path -- do you recognise that house?'
'Yes. That's the old hut half way between the old market and the village -- but someone's there, coming out to meet Ngowa -- that's Venerable Too Dha! Why is he staying out at the old hut?'
I'd so much love to visit him. I'm sure Venerable Too Dha would enjoy it, but Ngowa is there, and he might be frightened of Neuryzh.
We go further.
'That's my village!'
I can't believe it! I wish we could get down and stay a while, but we can't.
We look about the place for a while and then go up again.
'Now, let's explore some other parts of the universe.'
'Where is the planet Nephtesh?'
'I don't know. I know which sector it's in, but to look for it would require a planet by planet search. I'm sure the council for their sector wouldn't allow it. The Noonz Sector has a Groki majority.'
'Then how will I find the golden tablets?'
'That's something that Elkhem will have to show you Himself.'
'Oh.'
The sky is changing to a different shape, so we must be getting far from Kalodzu-Famta now.
He goes on: 'What I can tell you is that Nephtesh is not the birthplace of humanity.'
'Where is it then?'
'Nobody knows. Their birth and life were hidden from all the species in the universe. Now, the Nephteshis, though they had gained great knowledge, lacked wisdom. They would have compromised the secret of their birth-planet's location, but a wise ruler who remained on that planet closed the door so that not even the Nephteshis could return. That door will only be opened for the one who is to go to seek the golden tablets.'
'What kind of door?'
'A tele-gate. It uses logical relocation, the same technology as your ships. They work in pairs. One gate sends anyone who walks through it to a specific location in the universe, where the other gate is. Because planets are always moving around their suns while their suns move in their orbit around the centre of the galaxy, their location constantly changes. For that reason, both sides of the tele-gate must be synced and the exact coordinates of the destination side must be returned to the entry side before the relocator will work. That's what unlocks the tele-gate. When both sides are open, one can walk either way. It becomes simply a door between two places, very far off, but seemingly in the next room. The wise ruler on the human planet both removed the record of his planet's locatio
n from Nephtesh, and locked the gate from his side so it wouldn't return the coordinates to the other side. No one has been able to return since.'
Now, I don't see many more stars in front of us. They're all behind us.
'We're coming out of the galaxy now. One of the reasons for this trip is so I can step out and look back on the galaxy. I find that doing that helps to remind me of how tiny I am, how small our galaxy really is, and how big the universe is, and perhaps a small fraction of a vision of how big Elkhem is. I also hope to get a general picture of where Utzes are to be found. I'm feeling quite lonely after ninety years.'
We've turned, so our faces are towards the galaxy. But we're still backing up real fast, so the whole thing is getting smaller and smaller.
It looks like a spot of porridge that landed on a potter's wheel. There are also bits further away from the main galaxy that look like splatters from the same spot, and some that look like small galaxies in themselves.
'Now, we'll start going faster than we have yet.'
I can see the galaxy turning slowly around. We're going over the top of it -- now we're looking at it from the side -- and then the bottom. Well, I guess it doesn't have a top and a bottom, only two sides.
We move back close enough so that the galaxy takes up the whole view on that side of us. It looks big, yet, I don't think I'll ever even imagine how big it really is. The middle of it is very bright, almost blinding if you look at it, but it lights things up inside the ship.
We stop there.
'I'm going to do what I came for,' he says. 'The light and sounds may be too much for you, so you'd better wear this. It will dampen it for you, but you can still sense it.
He takes something out of his bag -- it looks like a crystal bowl. I can just see it by the light of the galaxy. The crystal is almost black. He puts it over my head.
The middle part of the galaxy looks less blinding now. I can look straight at it.
'What are you going to do?' I ask.
'Sing,' he says.
He's quiet for a little while. I can see his silhouette against the galaxy.
Suddenly, his dome lights up, and noises start coming out. They're the same sounds I've heard coming from the top of the mountain when I thought the wind was blowing through it, like a giant pan flute. It really is him singing then. It's very loud. I guess, without this bowl over my head, it would be louder. And his dome is about as bright as my eyes can take it.
His two tentacles go straight up, and now there are three sounds coming out at once, in harmony. It's really very beautiful, sort of like what I heard in the crystal bubble thing, but much more intense. There are extremely high tones, almost too high for my ears to hear, and also very low ones.
He keeps it up, just going on and on. I'm really enjoying this.
There's a bright point on the galaxy -- very fine, but I can see it because it's brighter than the rest. It's changing colours, almost like Neuryzh's dome. Beautiful! There are sounds too, harmonising with Neuryzh's singing, as though the music were coming from the point. More of them pop up, one by one. Each one has a different sound. Now they're coming from all over the galaxy. A couple are even coming from some of the smaller galaxies nearby.
Neuryzh pauses. The music is still coming from the different spots on the galaxy. It's very beautiful.
Neuryzh starts talking to me now. 'The material in this ship is designed to receive signals from other Utzes. Signals of this sort travel at the speed of thought. I've been leading out in a song, and now Utzes all over the galaxy are joining in. This is one way I can tell how many of us there still are, but the real reason is to stay in communication with one another, and with the one who birthed us all.'
We listen quietly for a while. Then, Neuryzh starts in again. It sounds like thousands of different instruments all together, harmonising in a way I could never have imagined before.
This is glorious! It's making me think about how beautiful the stars and galaxies are, and how wise and wonderful the the Maker of it all is. If I could just stay here like this forever, I'd be eternally happy!
I think this has been going on for two hours now. It's dying down. Neuryzh has stopped, and just a few of the others are still at it. They're stopping, one by one.
There's one spot where it looks like several colours shining at once.
Neuryzh points to it. 'That's the planet Zonch, which gave birth to the Utz species. There are about five very young Utzes there, and a very old one, their instructor. The youngest is no more than fifty years old.'
Finally, he takes off my crystal bowl.
'Can you go to visit them, now you know where they all live?' I ask.
'I know the general areas where most of them are. It would still take me a long time to find them. This galaxy is becoming more and more restricted.'
'What about Zonch?'
'I may visit there sometime. If there's time, we could stop on our way home, so you could come along, perhaps. However, I'm hoping to meet someone to whom I could give my borunñnvotzp. I didn't feel that any of those who joined the song was hungry for one right now. Let's try another galaxy.'
Suddenly, we're moving faster than ever. The galaxy is shrinking as fast as our planet did before. I see other points of light that could have passed for stars, but I know they're galaxies. We seem to be swerving around, because the points of light aren't coming at us in a straight line.
There's one place where they seem to be appearing from behind something I can't see, like a dark cloud.
'We have to avoid dark matter,' says Neuryzh.
'Huh?'
'Something that's of a different nature than what makes up our stars and planets, and isn't conducive to life as we know it.'
I think I see places where there's more of the dark stuff.
'That galaxy there -- hmmm.'
I see one point of light getting bigger and bigger.
'What?' I say.
'I didn't think it was inhabited. Yet, I think I sense -- humans!'
'Huh?'
'Humans. Probably the only intelligent creatures there. Other creatures don't bother with this galaxy because it's thought to not be inhabited. Let's go and look.'
'You can sense humans from so far away?'
'The same way as Utzes hear one another's song, though not as distinct. My sense is especially acute right now because of our song; otherwise, I would never have noticed.'
It's looking more like a galaxy now.
'It was very resourceful of humans to find this galaxy. It's not visible from ours because of the dark matter. Yet, it has the right energy composition to support the same kind of life as our own galaxy.'
It's getting bigger and bigger.
'You might want to record the coordinates of this galaxy in your computer. I'll give you more as we find some inhabited planets.'
He gives me some numbers, and I write them in the computer.
'But won't it take too long to find the planets?'
'There are no Groki here to hold us up.'
We're slowing down as we enter the galaxy. Then, we turn this way and that.
I see something fuzzy up ahead. It's getting bigger and bigger.
'A human community in the vicinity of a nebula,' says Neuryzh.
It's getting bigger -- a hazy place with bright spots here and there.
'A star, yes. A glass cloud, but I don't see any planets. There's an especially dense ring of gas circling the star along with a few asteroids, that's quite normal. The only question is, where could the humans be? Let me see. The gas cloud is composed of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide -- breathable air, and in quantities dense enough to support life! I also see clouds of water vapour. Now, don't tell me ... -- now let me magnify this image. Why look!'
I look.
There's somebody flying using some sort of contraption. It's got a thing in front like a big cartwheel with flaps instead of spokes, spinning around and round. He's peddling away at a pulley to make it spin and push the air back
. There's two more people hanging on the back with their hands. It looks like it could be his wife and kid.
'What do they find to eat?' I say.
'Let's look. There -- over that way.'
There's an asteroid, and there's some sort of plant growing about it. Someone's picking something from it. On the other side of the asteroid, I see a round thing sticking out with a hole. It must be a house or something.
There's another flying thing. This one looks as though someone's made wings, almost like a butterfly's, but he's pulling it in and out with his arms like a fish does with its fins.
The people have hardly any clothes on. I suppose it's hard to find anything here to make clothes with.
'This certainly illustrates what Friend Blazz said, that humans are adaptable to almost every condition.'
There are animals. We see a flock of something -- birds?
No. More like squids with feathers. Weird!
We look at some other groups of people in the gas ring.
'I don't recognise the language,' says Neuryzh. 'Their lifestyle looks basic, and they've obviously been here a long time. I'm sure they've lost the ability to stand up and walk in situations with gravity. I wonder if they remember how they came to be here? Are they even aware that other people groups live on solid planets with gravity? In any case, it wouldn't do to make contact with them just yet, until we learn a lot more about them.'
He tells me the coordinates for this star. I write them down, and we go on.
'Perhaps, some day, I'll come and sit a while here and try to decipher their language. Now we're coming to a part where the gasses are too dense for humans, but -- what is this I sense over there...?'
It looks a bit more dense up ahead, almost like bright daylight.
'Ah! If I'm not mistaken ...'
We've stopped moving.
'... this is the home of a fjoounz.'
'A -- what?'
'A fjoounz is a highly intelligent life form. One must never approach a fjoounz, nor attempt to communicate with one. If one has a year or two of spare time, one could wait in a place such as this, and the fjoounz might initiate the communication. I'd like to do that someday.'
Eetoo Page 13