by D M Arnold
“Who might that be?” Nyk chuckled. “Tomyka Wells?”
“None other.”
“Impossible...” He pondered. “Tomyka has been ... rehabilitated?”
“Tomyka spent the first two years of her confinement being such a model citizen, she convinced a magistrate to cut short her sentence. She has been working with the latest Secretary of Agriculture on Gamma. The rumor is their relationship extends beyond professional.”
“Hmmph,” Nyk snorted. “I wonder what sort of man would appreciate Tomyka's ... unique charms.”
Kronta smiled. “He'd need to be a very strong one.”
“Or, a very weak one,” Nyk replied. “Latest Ag Secretary? How many have there been?”
“They've installed a revolving door on the Gamman Ag ministry. This is the fourth in three years.”
“Why the turnover?”
“We can blame THAT on the Altian-Lexalese rapprochement. Mykko Wygann has been opening large tracts of land, and the Altians have been sending unemployed ore-workers to be field hands.”
“What grows on Lexal except for inkroot?”
“They have discovered the Lexalese southern tier has a climate nearly ideal for growing winter wheat.”
Nyk nodded. “Let me guess -- The resulting wheat surplus has hit the Gammans hard.”
“On top of that, the Altians have contributed more than ore-workers. They've installed a couple of their mass drivers to put the containers into orbit...”
“...Resulting in lower production and freight costs.”
“The first Lexalese-Altian wheat came on line two seasons ago. For centuries, the Gammans have been accustomed to a monopoly on being the Hegemony's breadbasket.”
“Now, they know what competition feels like. Hence the turnover at the Ag Ministry.”
“Right, Nyk. They're scrambling to figure out how to deal with it. They've even petitioned the High Legislature for subsidies.”
“I can imagine how well that went over.”
“They called the situation a crisis impacting every colony. It fell on more or less deaf ears. Do you see what happens when you spend a year and a half cooped up in your little Earthbound hole? You get cut out of the loop.”
Nyk smiled. “It's a loop I'd just as soon remain out of. How does this lead to Tomyka's assignment as envoy?”
“This diplomatic initiative has been going on, quietly in the background for some time. Now, both parties are ready to move it up a notch. Once word circulated, Tomyka called in a few of her remaining favors among the ExoService brass and got herself appointed.”
“It seems out of her character,” Nyk replied. “I never envisioned her as a diplomat. As an enforcer, yes -- a diplomat, no.”
“She wanted it bad. We could tell she wanted it -- so bad she could taste it.”
“I still can't believe she'd make such a fuss over this sort of an assignment. What are they planning? A treaty between the Abo and the Gammans patterned after the Lexalese-Altian one?”
“The Abo? What makes you think this has anything to do with the Abo?”
“Your note to Seymor referred to a lost colony. I assumed...”
“You assumed wrong. The colony in question is Varada.”
“Varada...” Nyk rolled the word around in his mouth for a few moments. “The lost colony of Varada...”
“Misplaced would be more appropriate... It's time for Tomyka to conference in. She can fill you in with the rest.”
Nyk turned his chair to face a wall-mounted vidisplay. Kronta activated it and the image of a late-middle-aged woman appeared. “Nykkyo Kyhana,” she said. “Well, well, well... I didn't know YOU were to be our interpreter.”
“I didn't know YOU were to be the envoy,” Nyk replied.
“Please, Nykkyo -- let's not start on the wrong foot. Let's let bygones be bygones. I hold no hard feelings and neither should you. After all -- you were the victor.”
“Agreed... Tell me, Ms Wells...”
“Tomyka,” she replied. “We are on the same team.”
“Tomyka -- tell me how I can help negotiating with Varada. Tell me why we're negotiating with them at all.”
“Some background, Nykkyo... What do you recall of your school history lessons regarding Varada?”
He looked at the ceiling. “Varada -- second or third colony discovered ... Earth-like planet ... for some reason they were excluded from the Floran Hegemony.”
“Varada,” Wells replied. “Current planetary population about two billion. The planet is situated such that interstellar navigation in and out is very dangerous. More of our scouts were lost in the Varada approach than to all other colonies, combined. As a result, the High Legislature decided the colony was too dangerous and was to be abandoned. However, the settlers who were there liked the place and preferred to sever ties and become independent rather than pack up and ship out.
“The Varadans attempted, about a thousand years ago, to normalize relations. An exploratory expedition there revealed something very troubling about how their society had evolved.”
“Which was?” Nyk asked.
“They had evolved into a rigid, stratified society, comprising a leadership class at the top, and with professional, merchant and worker classes in the middle.”
“We have societies like that on Earth,” Nyk replied. “What of the lower class?”
“That is where the difficulties arose. The lowest rung on their ladder was a slave class.”
“Slavery? The Varadans practice slavery?”
“What is even worse,” Tomyka added, “is that they enslaved their own people.”
“Please explain to me why it's preferable to enslave someone else's people.”
Wells ignored his remark and continued, “As you know, the Floran Compact forbids involuntary servitude; the HL constitution forbids it and each and every colonial charter forbids it. The Varadans were told to abolish slavery as a condition for normalization. They walked away from the table.”
“And, now they're back. How did we make contact with them?”
“The Varadans have no interstellar fleet. Their technology resembles Floran's at the dawn of our Golden Age. They do have primitive tachyon transmitters, and they have been hailing us for ... for about a hundred years. About a year ago, one of our exo scouts intercepted the hail. We have been communicating, laboriously, for the past year. Each communiqué must be translated and relayed to an exo scout, which must move close enough to transmit; then wait and relay the reply back. We feel we are ready for face-to-face communications.”
“How do I fit in?”
“Nykkyo -- You are fluent in Esperanto. We want you to interpret for us.”
“The Varadans speak Esperanto? By the time of the first colonies, the language had already evolved.”
“The Varadans speak a language that resembles Old Floran.”
“I don't speak Old Floran.”
“Old Floran is quite close to Esperanto,” Kronta interjected. “Have you ever read Red Dawn, Red Dusk in the original Old Floran?”
“Our national literary treasure... I can't get through it in modern Floran.”
“You are a natural linguist, Nykkyo,” Kronta added. “I wouldn't have recommended you if I didn't think you could handle it.”
“There must be linguists in the diplomatic corps who can translate. Use the ones that translated the initial missives.”
“They can read the language and translate it -- but they can't speak it.”
“All right -- I'll give it a try.”
“Good,” Tomyka said. “In two days time, you are to proceed to the transit platform. Go to the ExoService wing and receive instructions there. An exo scout will transport you to Varada, where you will meet with Prefect Ogan. I will follow in two or three days. It'll give you time to practice with the language.”
Nyk looked toward Kronta. “I'll want Andra with me.”
“The ax'amfin witch?” Wells exclaimed. “Never!”
“Why do you want her?” Kro
nta asked.
“Because she IS ax'amfin. She was taught the arts of statecraft and protocol. She's also a quick study when languages are concerned. If these are to be diplomatic meetings, I'd want her there. She can advise me based on skills she was taught.”
“I refuse to permit this,” Wells protested.
“Those are my terms,” Nyk replied. “No Andra -- no participation.”
Wells glowered through the vidisplay. “Very well. Illya, get some assurances.” The teleconference display went blank.
“I really rather you didn't bring Andra into this, Nyk.”
“Why not?”
“I don't trust ax'amfinen.”
“Andra has never done anything contra to the best interests of the Hegemony,” Nyk replied.
“True, but maybe because she's never had to choose between loyalty to her school and loyalty to her home.”
“Andra's not like that. She has a well-developed sense of right and wrong.”
“My previous statement stands,” Illya said. “I like Andra, and she's never crossed me, personally. But -- an ax'amfin would never be my choice for an important mission.”
“I think she'll be useful. I certainly don't know how she could hurt.”
“What's your plan?” Kronta asked.
“I'll swing by Sudal and pick up Andra. Then we'll take the scout to Varada.”
* * *
Nyk climbed the spiral staircase to the living level of the Residence in Sudal. He looked around his childhood home. The place seemed deserted. “Hello? Suki? Andra?” A tall young woman with oat-straw white hair and pale blue eyes stepped from the back of the house. “Andra!”
“Nyk!” She ran to him. He held and kissed her. “What are you doing here?”
“I'm on a special assignment. I need you to come with me. Can you get away for a few days?”
“What assignment?”
“A diplomatic mission to the lost colony of Varada.”
“Varada?”
“No lie.”
“I ... I think I can get away...”
“Wonderful. I'd love having you along.” He scanned around the living room. “Where's Suki?”
“She's traveling. She's giving a short course on T-Delta. She left yesterday.”
“She'll tour the galaxy before I will -- and she's not even a native.”
“She'll be disappointed to learn she missed your visit. Nyk -- you must get this notion of surprise visits out of your head.”
“Right -- I need to check her calendar first.”
“If she had known you were coming, she'd have made arrangements to be with you. I know she would've.”
“I had little advance warning on this one myself.”
Andra nodded toward the kitchen. “I'll heat some meals. You can tell me all about this diplomatic mission.”
* * *
Nyk sat beside Andra at the kitchen table. He dropped his fork onto his empty dinner tray and opened a dessert roll. “I told you what I know.”
“It is fascinating. At least it doesn't sound dangerous. The lost colony of Varada. It almost sounds romantic. Think of it -- a thousand years ago the Varadans would rather walk away from the hegemony than give up involuntary servitude.”
“They must've given it up to try contact now. They knew those were the terms, and they knew they were non-negotiable. I have some background material on Varada.” He whipped his handheld vidisplay from his sash and consulted it. “The population is dispersed across the entire planet. There are four continents, two of which straddle the planet's equator and are populated. The other two are polar, ice-covered and unpopulated -- except for some native fauna.”
“Are there different nationalities on Varada?” Andra asked.
“No -- the population makes up a single Varadan nation. What is conspicuous is a formal class system, made up of a leadership class, professionals, merchants and workers. It is Varadan fashion to wear clothing that exposes the left shoulder and arm, and to wear tattooed on the left clavicle emblems of one's class. Three lozenges indicates the ruling class and three scrolls is the professional class.”
“The doctors and lawyers,” Andra remarked.
“Yes, but also the administrators, ministers and bureaucrats. Three disks identify the merchant class...”
“Three coins,” she observed.
“Three staves mark the working class. At one time there was a slave class, identified by three links of a chain.”
Andra shuddered. “To be branded a slave with an icon of the bands that bind you -- how horrible. I take it one is born into a particular class and stays there.”
“Mobility between classes is permitted, but the rules are complicated -- also, inter- class marriage is permitted, and offspring are given the choice of class to join. Varadan class hierarchy is a complex institution.”
“What else do we know of Varada?” she asked.
“Technologically, they sit between present-day Earth and Floran. They have no interstellar fleet. They do have limited, primitive hyperspace communications.” He returned his handheld to his xarpa. “Day after tomorrow we must ride the shuttle to the transit platform. An exo scout will take us to Varada.”
“A exo scout. I've never been on one of those.”
“Me, neither,” Nyk replied. “You know -- when I was a kid, Veska would visit and he always brought me a scale model of one of the scouts. For a while, joining the ExoService is what I wanted to do. My collection included every vessel in the fleet ... from the 100-series diplomatic couriers up to the 700-series heavy cruisers. I knew all the vital facts -- mission, size, crew complement, cargo capacity... I had them hanging on wires from the ceiling of my room. Sounds pretty nerdy, doesn't it?”
She kissed his cheek. “It sounds in perfect character with you.”
“I don't know whether to take that as a cut or a compliment.”
She kissed his cheek again. “Take it as the truth.”
“Do you realize you always kiss my cheek when you're about to tell me something you think I don't want to hear?”
“If you're the expert on the Exo fleet, tell me what sort of scout we're likely to fly.”
“Hmm... We're using the scout for two reasons. It's been centuries ... no, millennia since we had regular service to Varada. They'll need a scout to plot the course. That eliminates a 100-series. On top of that, the approach to Varada is tricky. The planet sits amidst the hyperspace equivalent of dangerous shoals. We'll need one well equipped for such exploration.”
“Are those the two reasons?”
“No. Tomyka will need to consult to the homeworld. The Communications Corps has already dragged a comm relay into position halfway between Varada and the nearest node on our comm net. They'll need another comm relay at Varada. Based on my exhaustive study of the matter, I predict they'll use a 200-series Scout. Those ships are modular, and one could be configured as a temporary, portable comm relay. They are used as such when a relay at a critical node in the net gets damaged for some reason.”
“200-series,” Andra mused. “I was hoping it would be a bigger ship.”
“It's big enough -- several times the size of a passenger packet. Actually, the 300- series Explorers are the smallest ships -- unless you're counting the 100-series couriers. I don't consider them scouts.”
* * *
Nyk lay on his childhood bed with a portable vidisplay propped on a cushion. On the screen was the image of an Asian woman. “Are you calling from Floran?” Suki asked.
“I'm calling from my bedroom at the Residence.”
“Oh... Why didn't you tell me you were coming?”
“I didn't know myself. Andra tells me you're giving a short course on Earth history.”
“Yes -- I was asked to come to T-Delta. I wish I knew you were coming.”
“How long will you be there?”
“The course is forty Deltan days, which amounts to about thirty-five standard Floran days.”
“Long enough to screw up
your biological clock. Well, my mission shouldn't take more than ten or so standard days, so I'll be long gone by the time you return. How do you like it there?”
“It's different. I don't think it's as pretty a world as Floran.”
“Floran's not all that pretty.”
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Nykkyo.”
“I was discussing that point with someone else recently. Well -- you'll find Myataxya looks beautiful to all beholders. Is that gig all set?”
“Yes it is -- later this year. I can't wait... I know! I'll give you the dates and maybe Seymor will let you join me. It can be the honeymoon we never had. You said you wanted to honeymoon on Myataxya.”
“But -- we wouldn't be able to make love day and night like a proper honeymoon. You'll need to go to your conference.”
“Those conference sessions don't last 'round the clock.”
“You're right -- it does sound like a great idea. Now I can't wait.” He chuckled. “Seymor says you should find yourself an agent.”
“Hmm... I never thought of that. Do they exist on Floran?”
“Seymor says they do.” He reached to his nightstand. “I brought some pictures -- Nicky's third.”
“Let's see...”
“I didn't bother to scan these.” He held photographs to the vidisplay camera.
“Oh... So cute! Mom's looking good.”
“She's doing better...”
“I'm happy to hear that. I lie awake nights worrying about her.”
“Now, for the grand finale... Nicky's chopstick lesson.”
“Oh, my God!” Suki began laughing. “That's so funny.”
“And, here's how it all ended -- finger food.”
“Those are too precious. Look at Mom -- she's actually smiling!”
“I'll leave these here for you -- on your nightstand. They're extra prints. I had them made for you.”
“I'd appreciate that. Thank you, Nykkyo.”
“During that chopstick incident, I almost let it slip. I was taking the picture and I said, 'Suki would enjoy these.' I'm glad I didn't say 'Suki WILL enjoy these.'”
“How did Mom take it?”
“She thought I was suggesting we do the things you and your dad would enjoy doing -- as tributes.”