by Dean, Warren
The 'copters landed one after the other; Qara grateful that the contents of her stomach saw fit to follow suit. Once on the ground, Batu recorded and saved a short clip of the party disembarking and preparing to leave the clearing. He panned across the scenery, capturing the tree-lined valley to the north of their position, and the majestic slope of the snow-capped mountain to the south. A pair of steppe eagles floated above the treetops in the valley, lazily scanning the ground for any prey which might be startled into ill-considered flight by the noisy intruders.
Looking at the rocky, uneven ground she could see through the trees at the edge of the clearing, Qara envied the birds their ability to cross such terrain with no more than the flick of a wing. Thankfully, she was not one of those fussy reporters who dressed in the latest fashions and tottered about in high-heeled shoes. The soft leather riding boots she habitually wore were better suited to the walk ahead.
The president trimmed the party, ordering half of the riot squad and some of his aides to remain behind with the 'copter crews. They would secure the 'copters and act as back-up, if required. He detailed one of the 'copter pilots to accompany them as a navigator and, once everyone was ready, asked Ambassador Ba to lead the way.
The ambassador touched the side of his neck with a long finger and appeared to sub-vocalise a brief query. His implant was obviously more than just a translation device. After a moment, he turned and walked confidently into the forest, heading up the slope of the mountain. The curator hurried after him, concerned about what impact the Faerie Folk may be having on the ecology of the park. The rest of the party followed. Qara's crew was instructed not to broadcast anything, as the president's military advisers felt that it was not prudent to advertise their location.
The forest quickly grew denser, forcing the company to travel in ones and twos. Qara found herself near the back of the column, following Batu through the trees. She walked in silence for a while, concentrating on her footing. Batu seemed to know instinctively where to step and for a while she literally followed in his footsteps. Then, she stepped on a rock, which rolled unexpectedly under her foot, causing her to stagger sideways. Before she could fall, a hand caught her elbow in a strong grip and steadied her. She turned to thank whoever had assisted her and found herself staring into the piercing green eyes of one of the Faerie Folk. She had not had a chance to study the ambassador's companions closely and could not yet tell them apart. Her mind raced to find something to say that wouldn't sound hopelessly inane, and came up empty.
The stranger released her arm and spoke in a high-pitched, slightly metallic tone. "I am pleased to introduce myself to you. I am Translator Vi, the only female member of our expedition. I am glad to meet a female of your race." Her words answered a question Qara had not had the chance to ask. Ambassador Ba, Analyst Ko and Physician Ti were male, and Vi was female.
They continued through the forest for a while. Vi's long legs had little trouble negotiating the broken ground, and her robes had been fastened snugly at the arms and legs so that they would not impede her movement.
"My name is Qara-Chinua, thank you for your help," Qara said, belatedly remembering her manners. Then she spoiled it somewhat by asking curiously, "Why are there no other females among you?"
Vi did not reply immediately, but stared in the direction that the ambassador had taken, as if considering how much information she could divulge without incurring his displeasure.
"The most difficult thing I have found in learning your language is that there are many words which have more than one meaning. We do not have this phenomenon in our language, which has developed to the point where there is no ambiguity in our speech at all. One such word you use is 'confidence'. I have learned that it usually means self-assurance or self-belief, but it is also used when you wish to ask someone to keep something secret. May I tell you something in confidence?"
Qara didn't have the heart to explain that no-one on Earth would ever tell a Personet reporter anything in confidence, unless the person's true agenda was to ensure the dissemination of the secret as quickly and as widely as possible. Anyway, she was far too intrigued to say no.
"Of course," she said, offering the human race's absolute assurance of complete trustworthiness.
"In my society, females are regarded as far too valuable to be risked on contact expeditions. Compared to you, and to most of our other client races, we are extremely long-lived. I am nearly two hundred of your years old, but am still considered very young. The problem my people face is that, as our longevity has increased over the millennia, our females have grown increasingly infertile and, to make matters worse, less and less females are being born. It is as if our race as a whole has reached its pinnacle and no longer needs to reproduce. For this reason, our females are placed in protected environments from birth, where our sole purpose is to have young. It is very rare that any of us are permitted to engage in any hazardous pursuits."
"How were you able to come on this voyage?"
"I have an uncommon ability to learn and understand exotic languages and I was allowed to qualify as a translator. I was the top of my class. The ambassador, who insists on having the best personnel when he prepares a contact expedition, personally requested the Ancient Council to release me. Even then, I would never have been permitted to leave my reproduction centre if my fertility rating had not been extremely low."
It was impossible to tell whether the appropriate response to Vi's disclosure was to offer congratulations or condolences, a bit like when a friend announces that she is pregnant with twins. Most reporters would have had no compunction about asking for the gory details of life at a reproduction centre, but Qara was taking a liking to the earnest young stranger and decided not to be indelicate. She supposed that it must be a bit like boarding school for young adults.
"You must miss your family while you are in a reproduction centre. How often are you allowed to visit them?"
Vi gave her a sharp look, which from those eyes was very sharp indeed. She didn't answer at once and Qara began to think that she had offended the stranger after all.
"The ambassador is right about you, you certainly are skilled at asking perceptive questions. In our society, we do not have families as you understand them. We are born in the same way that you are, but we are not permitted to live with our parents. Our young remain with their birth mothers for two star-cycles, after which the females are sent to reproduction centres, and the males to evaluation centres. Most females remain in the centres until they are no longer capable of reproducing. After that, they are free to leave, although most remain as teachers, carers or in administrative positions."
Qara was horrified. It was boarding school from the cradle to the grave! And for a lifespan of hundreds of years!
"Our males spend a short time being evaluated and, once their talents have been identified, they are transferred to the relevant training facilities. Once they are fully trained, they take up the positions to which they are most suited."
Vi saw the look on Qara's face, which wasn't difficult to interpret.
"We are taught that our system is the most efficient way of ensuring that each of us makes the best possible contribution to society," she continued. "It is the only experience any of us ever have, so no-one questions it. We do not have the rebels and dissidents which seem to proliferate in your society. Our long established belief is that such characters are counter-productive, although this is a premise which our preliminary studies of your history have called into question. It seems that many of your breakthroughs, both physical and intellectual, have occurred because of individuals who have dared to challenge what was regarded as the accepted truth at the time."
Qara did not know what to make of this information and decided to change the subject.
"How does the ambassador know which way to go through the forest? He doesn't seem to be using any instruments and I haven't seen any sign of your camp."
Vi didn't seem to mind answering questions. She pressed
a long finger to the side of her neck. "The implant we all wear to lower the tone of our voices also serves as a communication device. It is a little like the ear-motes you use, although ours operate sub-vocally. The ambassador is able to navigate by obtaining direction signals from our facility."
The slope grew steeper as they continued to wind their way through the trees. The wind from the steppes had picked up, blowing in sharp and cold. By late afternoon it would take the temperature down to freezing and Qara hoped that the Faerie Folk's camp, or facility as Vi called it, was big enough to provide shelter for everyone. The translator didn't seem to be bothered by the cold and Qara wondered if the fabric of her robes was warmer than it looked. She closed up the front of her leather jacket and spoke up again.
"Why did you land in Mongolia, instead of one of the main centres of our planet?"
"When contacting another race for the first time we try to avoid any approach which may be perceived as aggressive or threatening. We are not a warlike race, but many of our client races are. We have learned from experience that appearing suddenly from space, particularly in a densely populated area, causes anxiety amongst the people we wish to contact. They are almost always fearful that our intentions are not peaceful and are often driven to gear themselves up for conflict with us. Once this happens, it becomes very difficult for us to break through their fears in order to introduce our programme of technological mentorship."
"When we evaluated the dynamics of your planet, we decided that Mongolia was an ideal place for us to land. It is geographically removed from the major centres of your planet, which reduces the risk of your most powerful nations seeing us as invaders. It also has large unpopulated areas where we could establish ourselves without interference until we were ready to reveal our presence. This park has the added benefit of being very close to your capital city, which made it easy for us to contact you once we were ready to do so."
It made sense, Qara had to admit. Imagine the frenzy which would have ensued had the Faerie Folk popped up in New York or Beijing or Mumbai.
"How long ago did you arrive?"
"We have been here for approximately six of your weeks," Vi answered. Qara was suitably taken aback and wondered what the president's military advisers would think of that piece of information.
"As you will see shortly, we are able to cloak our presence", Vi explained. She stopped and listened to a sub-vocal message. "We are nearing the facility," she said. "I must re-join the ambassador. I hope to speak with you again once we are inside." With that, she lengthened her stride and disappeared into the trees ahead.
Batu dropped back to walk alongside Qara, glancing repeatedly from side to side. "It's too quiet here," he said apprehensively.
Qara looked around. Apart from the muffled sounds of the people walking ahead of and behind them, the forest was eerily still. No insects hopped or slithered across the ground and no birds could be seen or heard through the trees. Even the wind seemed to have died away.
Abruptly, they stepped into a small glade where the ambassador had stopped to wait for the rest of the party. The dense forest on the other side of the glade was silent. The trees were motionless except for the occasional stirring of leaves and Qara found herself thinking that there was something unnatural about the scene. She glanced at the president, who didn't seem to have noticed. Even the curator, standing alongside him, did nothing but stare gloomily at the ground. There was no sign of any facility and Qara began to wonder what the ambassador was playing at.
Batu had positioned himself between Qara and the rest of the party and she saw him adopt the deceptively relaxed stance she had seen once before; on the day the Pink Pony had been trashed. Qara's uneasiness grew. Now she was concerned not only about whatever the ambassador was about to reveal, but also about what her camera-man's reaction might be. And yet her conversation with Vi had been oddly reassuring. Although she could hardly be sure of the young stranger's motives, she had seemed perfectly sincere. If this was nothing but an elaborate trap, surely the translator would have sought to distract more influential members of the party.
The ambassador waited until everyone was present, and then gave a sub-vocal command. What happened next surprised everyone but the Faerie Folk. The dense forest behind the ambassador shimmered, like a particularly strong heat wave, and vanished. A large, squat structure, constructed of a dark blue substance unlike anything Qara had ever seen, materialised in its place. She couldn't judge its size from where she stood, other than to realise that it was much larger than anyone had been expecting.
The curator flinched visibly at the sudden disappearance of such a large section of the protected forest under his care, while everyone else simply gaped in astonishment. The facility seemed to have materialized out of thin air.
At another sub-vocal command from the ambassador, the main door of the building, which resembled a sheet of glass with a light blue tint, slid silently aside. The faint hum of machinery and the occasional burst of high-pitched conversation could be heard through the opening.
Qara surreptitiously activated her 'mote, and hoped that Tol was paying attention.
"Welcome to our research facility," said the ambassador. "Please, do not be alarmed. For reasons which I will explain shortly, it has been kept cloaked since we arrived. Once we are inside I shall ensure that President Ganzorig has every opportunity to inspect it. Once he has, I hope that he will allow us to retain it, despite the fact that we have built it without permission and in conflict with your environmental laws. Analyst Ko is the head of the facility and I shall ask him to guide you through the complex."
Ko stepped forward but, before he could enter the facility, the president spoke. "Ambassador, I am afraid that you have taken me by surprise. There is no-one in my party qualified to inspect such a facility. I am more than happy to accept your kind invitation of a guided tour, but before I do, I shall call for a team of technicians to be sent from the city to join us."
The president's statement was not phrased as a request. It was clear that he wanted to test that his lines of communication were still open and that the Faerie Folk would not attempt to prevent him from calling for reinforcements. There was a tense moment until the ambassador replied.
"Of course Mr President, I should have anticipated that. Perhaps you and your companions would care to make yourselves comfortable in our refreshment area while we await the arrival of your technicians. In the meantime, I will use the time to inform you of the purpose of the facility. I would be grateful if your Personet crew would broadcast the interview as I believe that, the sooner our actions are fully explained, the less chance there will be of any form of conflict arising."
The president activated his 'mote and relayed instructions to his staff in the city. He sent Tegus and the 'copter pilot back to the 'copters so that they could guide the technicians to the facility upon their arrival. He ordered the members of the riot squad to remain outside and they fanned out among the trees. Then he indicated to Ko that he was ready to proceed and the slender analyst led the way through the entrance. The president stepped boldly through the doorway after him, and the rest of the group followed.
Qara waited until most of the party had entered before doing so herself. She found herself walking down a wide corridor which led away from the entrance towards the centre of the building. It was pleasantly warm inside and she re-opened her jacket. Batu hadn't begun filming yet so she began to describe the surroundings to Tol in a low murmur. The walls of the corridor were about three metres high, after which they arched inwards and met each other seamlessly overhead. They were constructed of the same blue material as the outer walls. The whole place was warm and well-lit, although there were no light fittings or heating ducts that she could see. The light and heat seemed to emanate from the walls themselves.
She struggled to find the right words to describe the floor she was walking on and eventually settled on 'firm but springy'. It seemed to be made of the same material as the rest of the build
ing, but felt a lot like a sprung wooden floor. Unlike a wooden floor, however, it made very little noise to walk on. On impulse, she knocked on a wall and found that it was the same consistency as the floor. It was also slightly warm to the touch.
The corridor was full of Faerie Folk bustling to and fro. They were all dressed in what she had come to think of as 'shimmer-robes', although the colours varied. The most common were purple-pink and red-orange. She discovered later that the facility's analysts wore the former and its researchers the latter. The translators wore green-yellow and the physicians wore white-grey. The blue-green colour worn by the ambassador and his three companions was reserved for members of command.
The rooms flanking the corridor on either side were spacious and packed with unearthly equipment, the purpose of which she couldn't begin to guess.
After walking for a few minutes, the corridor opened into a massive central space, oval in shape and about twice the height of the corridor. The roof was a transparent dome, lightly tinted, which let in the sunlight but kept out the autumn cold. The area had a natural, open feel to it, accentuated by a copse of young birch trees, which had been left standing when the facility was constructed. The curator stopped and gave them a careful, if sorrowful, examination, while Ko led the rest of the group towards the right-hand end of the area.
Impressed by the ethereal beauty of the dome, Qara almost walked into Batu and Oyugun, who had stopped and were gazing open-mouthed at the left-hand end of the area. She followed the direction of their stares and did a double-take, her whispered commentary for Tol's benefit tailing off into baffled silence. Her first impression was that she was looking at a series of frameless shower cubicles, each containing a member of the Faerie Folk. Thankfully, all of them were fully clothed.
Each cubicle rose out of a base about three metres square and ten centimetres high, which was constructed of the same blue material as the floor. The transparent sides of the cubicles appeared to be sheets of energy stemming from the edges of the base and rising to a height of approximately three metres. The floor of each structure shone with a pale green light, which bathed its internal space in a misty glow. Insubstantial patterns of light and colour floated throughout the space, some of them reflecting unfamiliar symbols which could have been letters or numbers.