by Dean, Warren
By the time she entered the exquisitely furnished sitting room which the ambassador was using as his base of operations, she was feeling apprehensive. Her mood wasn't improved by presence of the surly Ko, who always looked at her with such disdain, and the aloof Physician Ti. As head translator on the expedition, she was technically equal to them in rank, but the two of them were far older than she and had accompanied the ambassador on many expeditions before this one.
The ambassador seemed pre-occupied, although he greeted her warmly as he always did. Ko brusquely dismissed everyone else in the room, leaving the four of them alone. She realised belatedly that this was an unscheduled senior command conference.
Before speaking, the ambassador waved them into comfortable armchairs and then insisted on pouring each of them a refreshing drink. Vi's apprehension grew; the ambassador did not usually conduct conferences this way. Equally surprising was Ko's restraint; he would ordinarily have expressed some impatience by now. The ambassador sat down, a rather ungainly operation in which he had to fold his long legs almost in half in order to get down to the level of the chair.
"So, translator, have your studies of human art forms yielded any new understanding of their society?"
She wasn't surprised that he knew exactly what she had been doing. "Yes, ambassador, I have discovered that they have an extraordinarily well developed storytelling tradition, which manifests itself in an impressive array of different genres. Their artworks, for example, are designed not only to be pleasing in appearance. They also tell stories. The stories themselves are often composed of many layers and it takes time to decipher the true meanings within them."
Sitting opposite Ko, she was aware of his growing irritation, which he continued to suppress. He was not interested in the artworks of what he considered to be a primitive race. He was of the view that, once the language of a client race had been adequately decoded and taught to the members of the expedition, the translator's task was at an end. If he had been in charge of the expedition he wouldn't have sent her back to the facility, he would have sent her back to the ship.
She decided to prolong his annoyance. "Even their factual reports, such as the ones which appear on the Personet news channels, are structured and presented as if they are stories. These stories are based on what are perceived to be facts. But most humans are not content with factual stories. They are endlessly making up fictional ones. These fictional stories are told in many different ways. Some of them are presented in written narrative form, some are acted out in recorded plays which they call 'movies', and others are set to music and sung. These 'songs', as they are called, appear to tell the simplest stories but are perhaps the most complex of all. I haven't begun to appreciate the way the music and words complement each other.
"The amazing thing is that the humans seem to have no difficulty differentiating the factual stories from the fictional ones. Or perhaps they can't tell the difference and don't care. They even delight in stories which are a mixture of fact and fiction. I am beginning to think that they are a far more complex race than we have given them credit for."
Ko couldn't contain himself any longer. "They are nothing more than ignorant barbarians," he spat.
Happy with her small victory over him, she didn't respond.
The ambassador cut in smoothly. "An opportunity has presented itself to us. As you know, Ko and I met with the representatives of the enterprise which produces the so-called Forever Gene. Ti has conducted some preliminary studies of this technology and has sent the results to the Ancient Council. We have now received instructions to proceed with a trial."
He sat back, and Ti levered himself to his feet. The physician was the oldest member of the expedition and his long, bone-white hair was thin and brittle. He spoke calmly and deliberately.
"We are all well aware of the theory of longevity reversal, which Ko espouses. We have heard him speak of it many times. Dr Herald and his companions have confirmed that they are capable of manufacturing a synthetic gene, compatible with our physiology, which will accelerate the aging process. Ko believes that the fertility of a female implanted with this gene will be enhanced. The question is, by how much? The Ancient Council has instructed us to select a female with a low fertility rating for the trial."
He paused and looked down at her. "Your rating meets the criteria necessary to optimise the results of the trial. I shall accompany you to Dr Herald's facility in the United States to ensure that you are treated with the utmost care and dignity. I shall also observe the procedure closely so that, once the trial has run its course, its effect on your longevity can be reversed."
He paused again. "If possible."
There was silence in the room and she realised that the meeting was over.
Ko stood up abruptly. "I have matters to attend to," he said and left the room. Ti followed him, deep in thought.
"The Ancient Council appreciates the sacrifice you are being asked to make," the ambassador said into the silence. Hi tone was not unkind. "If this trial succeeds, you will be credited with having played a major part in ensuring the future of our civilisation. You will be venerated and, in due course, will probably be called to serve on the Council itself. I cannot make you any guarantee, of course, but it would be the most appropriate way to honour your contribution."
There was silence again. When she finally spoke, her voice was strangely hoarse, as if she had been screaming. "When do I leave?"
"Tomorrow morning. Ti has made the arrangements."
"Then please excuse me. I should go and see to my duties."
The ambassador said nothing more and she got up and left the room. Her first impulse was to go back to the temple wall to have a last look at its artwork. But that would break her heart, as the humans would say, and instead she wandered through the interconnecting rooms of the mansion to give herself time to order her thoughts.
She could not fault the logic of the Ancient Council's decision. Nor could she question the right of the expedition's leader to select her for the trial. She had committed herself to the expedition in exchange for the unexpected chance of living a life beyond the reproduction centre. Having done so, it was her duty to do whatever was in the interests of the mission. She was the only female member of the expedition and had a low fertility rating. If another female was sent for, the selection and preparation process would take up unnecessary time. There was relatively little of importance for a translator to do at this stage of the mission and its other translators were capable of carrying out the necessary functions.
She found herself in a thickly carpeted drawing room in a wing of the mansion which was not being used. She stopped and was about to go back when she heard Ti speaking calmly and deliberately from an adjacent room.
"Can we not negotiate with them; offer them more technology in exchange for their help? Surely this isn't necessary."
She heard a sharp hiss, a sign of irritation which Ko habitually made deep in the back of his throat. "You have seen what they are like! Look what happened on the first day they encountered us. Two of their nations were prepared to go to war simply to prevent each other from getting their hands on us."
"Yes, but is this the only way?"
"It is the fastest way. We are running out of time. If you have no stomach for it, I will find someone who has."
Ti's hiss in response was a warning that Ko had gone too far. "Do not question my commitment. You, of all of us, know what I have done for the sake of our civilisation!"
Although she didn't understand the exchange, Vi got the feeling that this was a conversation she was not meant to hear. She turned and walked quietly back the way she had come, the carpets muffling the sound of her long strides. She had never heard Ti so animated and wondered whether they were talking about the upcoming trial. But why were they discussing it when the humans had already agreed to help? She gave up pondering the strange conversation and confined her thoughts to preparing for her trip.
She did not have much in the w
ay of personal effects and it would not take her more than a few minutes to collect them together. A spare set of shimmer-robes, for when her primary set was in for repair, and an alternate pair of meld-boots was the only clothing she had.
She had initially regarded the human practice of using multiple sets of clothing as quaint and extravagant, as did the other members of the expedition. Surely the humans were technologically advanced enough to have developed clothing which actively regulates temperature, or at least cleans itself? More recently, she had come to realise that their fascination with designs and combinations of clothing served a less obvious purpose; the expression of individuality. A few times she had amused herself by wondering what she would wear if she had the choice.
She headed back to the information centre, which took up the whole of a large dining hall. It was almost deserted at that time of day as most of the analysts had departed for the building site on the outskirts of the city. She gave the translator on duty permission to take a meal break and stepped into her interface module. Deftly, she placed laser-lenses onto the surface of her eyes and, using eye movements only, checked the communication links with the Ulan Bator facility and the four new building projects in Shanghai, St Petersburg, Sao Paolo and Mumbai.
Once reports of the successful commencement of the Bangkok project had been released on the Personet, the Faerie Folk had been inundated with requests for their building technology from scores of nations around the world. The ambassador had decided to prioritise the most populous nations, promising that all requests would be met in time.
Everything seemed to be running smoothly and, out of curiosity, she searched for the communique the ambassador had received from the Ancient Council, ratifying her genetic trial. She couldn't find any sign of it, even amongst the encrypted data, which meant that the ambassador must have deleted it completely. That was unusual; he was a meticulous keeper of records.
She looked around and realised that she was alone in the centre. She hesitated, and then opened a link to Emissary, the star ship orbiting the Moon. It was notoriously difficult to predict the duration and requirements of contact missions and so the ships sent on such missions were fitted with extensive accommodation and well provisioned with food and spare equipment.
The translator on board Emissary responded and Vi listened patiently to his comprehensive report. She didn't tell him he would soon be reporting to someone else. Instead, she requested a wormhole connection to her home world, using her command cypher to authorise it. Ko would be livid when he discovered the profligate expenditure of energy. Ordinarily, she wouldn't have dreamed of opening a wormhole for her own purposes, but something within her seemed to feel that it was justified.
Since the command meeting that morning she had begun to feel alienated; a feeling exacerbated by the cryptic conversation between Ko and Ti which she had overheard. It was sobering to discover that the other members of senior command were keeping secrets from her. She felt a need to go somewhere familiar and speak to someone friendly.
The wormhole which Emissary opened for her was too small to carry a star ship but large enough to support an exchange of data. She slipped a set of laser-emitters onto the tips of her fingers which, together with the built-in receptors in her meld-boots, would enable her to use the sensory immersion function of the module. She keyed the co-ordinates of her reproduction centre, and then erased them. Although it had been home for most of her life, she didn't think that what she needed could be found there. Her friends would greet her warmly enough, but they wouldn't be able to relate to her experiences since leaving them. Their hopes of fulfilling the dream of birthing young for the sake of the future of their race would be all they would talk about.
She keyed the co-ordinates of the only other place where she had ever felt at home, Translator School. Although she had been ostracised as a freak of nature by the all-male student body at first, her ability and determination had eventually won their grudging respect. By the time the ambassador had offered her a command post on his expedition, she had become an integrated member of their convocation.
The temperature in the module dropped sharply, and the light faded, replicating the planetary conditions of her destination. She even felt the dull nag of Earth's slightly heavier gravity easing off and was able to stretch out her back and neck properly for the first time since the expedition's arrival.
One of five inhabited planets in a binary star system, she found herself wondering how she would describe it to the humans. 'A world of ample soil and rain where staple foods are grown for the benefit of all five planets in fertile valleys between towering mountain ranges' would be accurate, if somewhat simplified. Had humans discovered it they would have called it 'Farmworld', or perhaps 'Gardenland'. Neither would be entirely fitting because there was far more to the planet than that, but humans did not seem to think that names had to be accurate. On the contrary, they often revelled in names which were positively misleading.
A virtual landscape began to appear within the mist of the module. It quickly expanded until it stretched as far as she could see. A pale yellow sky with a reddish tinge arched overhead, framed by distant mountain ranges on three sides. All around her, fields of dark blue foliage stretched into the distance. She could feel their fronds brushing against her legs and hips. Behind her a grove of tall Indigo trees rustled in the cool breeze blowing across the plain from the coast. Somewhere close by she could hear running water in an irrigation channel.
The planet had been named after the deep blue colour of the abundant flora which dominated its landscape. The setting inspired her to consider how best to translate its name into English. 'Azura' would be a good approximation, she decided.
The first settlers of the star system were not very imaginative when they arrived aeons ago. They were more concerned with survival than with what future generations would think of their choice of names for the planets of their new home. 'Primary Landfall' was what they named the first one they colonised. Then, because it was considered too risky for the entire population to be on one planet, they colonised a second one. Predictably, it was named 'Secondary Landfall'. The modern derivatives of those names, 'Primefall' and 'Secondfall', were hardly an improvement. Thankfully, the governing councils of subsequent generations were more effusive when naming new planetary colonies. Still, 'Azura', 'Ellipse', and 'Rim' were some way short of creative, in her opinion.
She couldn't see any signs of life from where she was standing and reckoned that she was some way out of the city. It would significantly prolong the expenditure of Emissary's energy reserves for her to simulate walking there, so she simply adjusted the target co-ordinates within her module. The peaceful pastoral scene flickered out of existence and was replaced by a bustling cityscape. Not paved with tar or concrete, the city streets were covered with a genetically engineered dense blue moss. The moss was impervious to the weather and almost indestructible. It was self-replicating and able to quickly repair any damage it sustained. It was also comfortably soft to walk on.
The mossy pathways formed an irregular lattice around and between the tall, elegant buildings which housed Azura's citizens. The straight lines and geometric patterns found in Earth's cities were absent. That was because there was no need for the humans' pervasive traffic systems. The lack of smog and air-pollution gave her lungs a welcome respite from the murky atmosphere of Bangkok.
The buildings around her varied in size, shape and design, many topped by sharp spires and elaborate pinnacles. The walls were solid wooden panels, which came from trees custom grown in accordance with the requirements of each building's design. Most of the panels were decorated with colourful carvings of trees, animals and landscapes, although there were also renderings of celebrated characters, star ships and celestial scenes.
It struck her that the predominant concepts reflected were beauty, nature, and co-operation rather than conflict, passion, sorrow, and sacrifice, which were the common themes expressed in human artwork. It was not tha
t the Faerie Folk were unfamiliar with such concepts; they were just not an emotionally demonstrative race.
Although not as large as the major cities on some of the other planets in the system, Azura's principal city covered a sizable area. It was perhaps half the size of Bangkok. Primarily dedicated to the management of the planet's agricultural industry, it was also home to a number of well-respected places of learning. The Translator School she had attended was situated in the foothills overlooking the main sprawl of the city.
The original settlement on the planet had been situated in those foothills; sheltered by the mountain range which rose behind it. At first the settlement was prevented from expanding by the violent storms which had lashed the valley at regular intervals. The storms were eventually tamed by the weather modification systems installed by the first settlers. Then the city had grown quickly, extending further and further out onto the valley floor. Eventually, the old part of the city had decayed as citizens deserted it for the more luxurious accommodation and better facilities constructed in the newer areas.
As the population grew, schools and academies began to establish themselves. The Planetary Council allocated them land in the foothills, efficiently ensuring the renewal of the area. Azura's Translator School was one of the oldest of these institutions and occupied pride of place. Its multi-tiered buildings were arranged in a sweeping semi-circle, the convex face of which overlooked the city. The buildings were all topped by ornate spires of varying lengths and sizes, some of them sporting colourful pennants. The carved wooden walls were faded with age, lending the campus an air of antiquity. The effect was enhanced by the avenues of mature Indigo trees which surrounded it, their yellow blooms adding splashes of bright colour to the scene.