The Quantum Series Box Set

by Douglas Phillips

  Stephanie switched on her headset cam and everyone else followed suit. With lanky arms and legs, it walked across the sand toward them. “Wait a second, that’s not a Dancer,” Wesley said. “It’s Zin.”

  The wavering image sharpened as the familiar shape of the copper-colored android moved closer. The egg-shaped bubble of air surrounding him reached to the sandy bottom and moved with him as he walked.

  He waved a hand in greeting and leaped up to the edge of the platform. As he entered, the wall of water magically parted and resealed behind him, leaving both Zin and the platform entirely dry.

  “So sorry,” he said, ignoring the aqueous miracle he’d just performed. “I intended to be back before you arrived, but discussions didn’t go exactly as planned.”

  Marie heaved a sigh, relieved not only that Zin had been found but also that he seemed so at home in this strange world, as any experienced guide should be.

  “We thought we’d lost you,” Stephanie said.

  “I do apologize,” Zin replied. “It was only a slight detour. I believe we’re back on track.” Stephanie touched his arm, looking just as relieved.

  “Nice trick with the bubble, Zin,” Tim said.

  “Fairly simple, really,” Zin answered. He touched a small, almost hidden wire on his hip that extended two feet straight out to his side. “Enhanced electrostatics increase the natural tendency of water molecules to adhere to one another. You will each be doing this while we’re here.”

  He addressed the whole team. “I’ve just spoken with my counterpart, and the change in plans is minor. Instead of using their meeting facility, the Dancers wish to greet you right here. This platform is normally just a transfer station, but there seems to be some nervousness on their part.”

  “They’re worried about us?” Stephanie asked.

  Zin tilted his head in a very humanlike way. “Mmm. Cautious, I would say. The Dancers can be quite bold, but I’ve noticed a reluctance too. You are only the second intelligent species that has visited Ixtlub.”

  “So, will they join us here on the platform?” Wesley asked.

  “No,” Zin answered. “But near enough that you will get a good sense of them. If this first step goes well, there will be more. Are you prepared?” He looked around, and each team member nodded.

  Zin pulled a penlike device from a slot on his belt and spoke into it. The sounds he made were guttural, complex, muffled and weighted heavily toward sharp consonants like x and k. The words, if they were words, were unintelligible, but the variety could certainly pass for a spoken language. The device responded, emitting more of the same sounds.

  “They’re coming now,” he said.

  Everyone watched the vessel, floating less than a hundred feet away. A form descended from the open hatch. Metallic, with coloring similar to Zin, but an entirely different shape. The thing looked like a bell, complete with a clapper hanging below it. Its top sloped to a slender crown whose surface was marked by several circular shapes. The clapper gently rested on the sand and then pushed off toward the platform. They’d all seen photos of Dancers. This being was similar, but different.

  “My Ixtlub counterpart,” Zin explained. “Aainatonia. She speaks English, fluently in my opinion, though her style is oriented to a Dancer thought process.”

  The bell-shaped being bounded in long arcs over the sandy bottom to the platform’s edge. She seemed not to have any mouth but formed perfectly audible words that passed easily through the several feet of water between them. “Welcome. You are as your images. Very fine. I am Aainatonia, an assistant.”

  No one spoke for a second as they absorbed the odd circumstance. Finally, Tim spoke. “Good to meet you, Aa… ina… sorry. Can you hear us?”

  “Quite well,” Aainatonia replied. “Your sound transmits by water and air. It is good. Aastazin is called by you, Zin. If helpful, you may call me Tonia.”

  “Easier,” Tim said.

  “Each of you is comfortable inside?” Tonia asked.

  “She means inside the bubble,” Zin added. “Any dizziness? Cannulas all working?”

  They all nodded. Marie had completely forgotten the oxygen tube was even in her nose. Tonia pivoted, and the clapper, which was apparently flexible, twisted with her move. “I present to you, new friends.” She issued some unintelligible sounds.

  From the hatch a white form appeared, followed by another, and another. Four in all. Slender jellyfish, if there was a single description for the elegant creatures. White, but translucent. Each slender head smoothly transitioned to a body that ended abruptly in an outward flair, like a girl’s skirt. Protruding from below the skirt was a thick vertical stalk and several tentacles swaying like ribbons around a maypole. Some of the creatures retracted their tentacles and stalk higher, almost completely hidden by the skirt. Others allowed them to dangle.

  One of the creatures bent forward and shot straight ahead, instantly stopping next to Tonia and dropping its stalk to the sandy floor. Side by side, the similarity in shape between the soft white creature and the metallic Tonia was obvious, just as Zin approximated a human form. Another creature zipped to the front, moving twenty feet almost instantaneously. Their speed through the water was nothing less than remarkable. With all four gathered next to their guide, the line of humans faced the line of Dancers with only a few feet of water separating them.

  “Jellyfish,” Tim mumbled. “Just like the pictures.”

  “They’re beautiful,” Stephanie said. “Better than the pictures.”

  Wesley turned to Zin. “Protocol? I’m sure we can do more than stare at each other.”

  “I suggest you start with a question,” Zin answered.

  Wesley looked eager and gave a slight bow. “Thank you so much for inviting us. I’m curious if the water transmits your voices?”

  Wesley had at least ten questions prepared in advance—they all did. But now that they were just steps away from obviously intelligent creatures, Marie imagined the conversation might become somewhat more impromptu. She hoped none of them would say or do something that might be taken wrong and remembered to keep her hands at her side.

  One of the creatures dipped slightly and issued a guttural response oddly mixed with a few high squeaks. Tonia quickly translated. “She welcomes you and wonders if you can hear her.”

  “Perfectly,” Wesley replied. “This is great.”

  Stephanie pointed to her camera headset and asked if she could record. Tonia left the response to the creature on the end. It promptly pivoted in a full circle and tipped its head to one side, almost comically.

  “He’s posing for you,” Zin said. “I believe your video is authorized.”

  Stephanie switched the camera on. “We’re already using the words he and she and our briefing documents explained that you are male and female but honestly, I can’t tell the difference. Can you help?”

  There was some conversation between Tonia and several of the Dancers. Finally, Tonia responded. “They ask you the same question.”

  Stephanie doubled over laughing. “Oh, my God, we’re really at the basics!”

  Tonia continued. “Yes, two forms. You may use the words male and female, but they do not have the same meaning. Males are darker with a straight central spine. Females are lighter and less straight.”

  The briefing documents used a similar description but also mentioned that unlike humans, there was no height difference between Dancers.

  “Does anyone see that?” Stephanie asked under her breath. “I sure don’t.”

  “Try to practice,” Tonia said.

  Stephanie blushed. Sound traveled well, and Tonia didn’t miss a thing.

  Zin spoke in the Dancer language and then in English that he had explained the differences between male and female humans. None of the katanauts asked for the precise anatomical translation or how Zin had gained this information.

  Each person took a turn asking a question, mostly drawn from their predefined list though a few unrehearsed questions popped
up and Zin didn’t object. Some were about physical biology and eating habits, some about customs and social structure. The Dancers responded with many of their own questions and Zin translated as various team members responded.

  You live on the surface? Yes, in homes not very different from yours on the hill.

  Your science? Biology, chemistry and enough physics to get us here.

  Do you have a second species? Not like you do, but dolphins and chimpanzees are pretty smart. Dogs, too, Wesley added.

  Many of the questions from one side were reciprocated on the other. Marie watched carefully, especially when each Dancer spoke. There were differences between them. The shading, though subtle, was definitely lighter on some. One Dancer who seemed to match the female description had asked questions slightly different from the others, more involved and with deeper meaning.

  “Can I ask a question specifically to the person at the right end of the line?” Marie asked. Zin translated, and the Dancer at the end dipped slightly in response. “Your homes on the hillside are quite beautiful. I’m curious what they look like inside. Does each house belong to a person or family? Do you sleep and eat there like humans do? How about… sorry, I guess I have a lot of questions.” She could think of ten more she’d like to ask, but Zin had recommended they take it one step at a time.

  Once the translation was provided, the Dancer dipped several times as she responded. Tonia translated. “She is very happy that you ask. Houses are shared, and eating is often communal. But spaces within each house are individual. She invites you to see her space.”

  “I’d love to see your house… your space. Yes, I’d like that very much,” Marie answered. She turned to Zin. “Can I do that?”

  “It might be a little complicated, but not impossible,” Zin replied.

  “Because of the water?”

  “No, not at all. The water is no issue. You saw me walk across the sand. Once set up, you could do the same and walk right into her house. No, the complications might be with others who share the house. Particularly if they are Dancer youth.”

  “Oh, I didn’t think about that.”

  Zin turned to Tonia. “What do you think?”

  Tonia turned to the Dancer female on the end, and they had an extended conversation with considerable dipping.

  “Why do they dip?” Marie whispered to Stephanie.

  “I think they’re laughing,” she responded.

  Tonia spoke in English. “Quite good. Very good. The youth in her home already know the human form. An artist in their city makes human dolls. The smallest youth play with them.”

  “Oh God, now I’ve heard everything,” Tim said.

  “Please visit,” said Tonia. “But just one. You, please.” She pivoted to Marie and spoke in the Dancers’ language to Zin.

  Zin acknowledged. “Tonia will set it up,” he told Marie. “This will actually work out well. We’ll split up. Marie, you will follow Tonia to this Dancer’s home while the rest of us visit a science laboratory and a kleek shell processing facility.”

  “Really?” Marie said. “Wow, I’m honored. Tell her I’m really honored to be invited to her home.”

  Zin performed the required translation and the Dancer dipped several times.

  “I don’t think they’re laughing,” Marie whispered to Stephanie. “Maybe the dipping is more complicated than that.”

  “Or maybe it’s just a nervous tic,” Stephanie mused.

  Without saying a word, Wesley broke ranks from the line of humans and stepped forward to the wall of water. He looked straight ahead to his counterpart in the middle of the line of Dancers. The Dancer twisted its central spine, the rod they’d earlier called a stalk, and pushed off the sand to move forward, close enough that Wesley could have reached out and touched it. Marie tensed.

  Please, Wesley, no handshake, she thought, but she didn’t say anything. Neither did Zin.

  Wesley seemed to be thinking the same thing because instead of reaching out, he stood tall and then dipped slightly to his right. He waited, and the Dancer dipped too. Then he dipped left and his counterpart followed. That was all they needed and within a few seconds the two were doing a dance—synchronized or not, it was hard to tell.

  A base drumbeat appeared from nowhere and coincided with their motion.

  “Are they doing that?” Marie asked. “The drumming?”

  “Yes, I believe they are,” Zin answered. “I’ve never seen this before. It’s really quite interesting.”

  There were certainly no drums around and no discernable motion from any of the Dancers, yet somehow, they were generating the sound.

  Marvelous creatures, Marie thought. They seemed so simple, yet they had created a society of high technology, with advanced tools and education. Their history must have been just as complex as human history. You didn’t become a civil society without some pain and strife along the way. Perhaps it still existed somewhere, just not here.

  10 Beextu

  Mykonos. Maybe Paros or Samos. One of the Greek islands. The Dancers’ town was a spitting image. Small white and blue houses, curving cobblestone streets, even colorful flower boxes on the corners of each house. Beyond the lack of sidewalk cafes, the major difference was that this town was submerged under a hundred feet of seawater.

  Marie followed closely behind Tonia and the Dancer, whose name she couldn’t pronounce until Tonia graciously shortened it to Beextu. When Marie said the name, the Dancer dipped both left and right, clearly delighted to hear her name spoken by the human. The creature tried to say Marie, but it came out Meezhie. Close enough.

  Their air bubble technology was wonderful. Zin had fitted a belt around Marie’s waist, with a canister of nitrogen and a wire that reached out to one side and touched the wall of water. Somehow, the wire transferred an electrostatic charge to the water and created an egg shape that surrounded Marie and moved with her every step. No matter which way she turned, the ground was solid, if damp, and unless she extended her arm fully, she never got wet. It was like walking through a downpour with a transparent umbrella.

  She allowed her fingers to extend for just a moment, long enough to skim the surface of the wall of water. Caribbean warm. She touched a finger to her tongue. Salty, even saltier than an ocean on Earth. They’d already talked about microbes and whether there were dangers to humans. The same argument that Zin had made for abandoning the clean room on Earth also applied to Ixtlub. Whatever microbes were in this water had followed a different evolutionary path from that of any microbe on Earth. Their ability to survive within a human body was unlikely. Of course, Marie had just put that theory to the test.

  Somebody has to be brave, why not me? Deal with it, Tim.

  She marveled at her surroundings. They walked—she walked, they flitted—up a narrow path that wound its way across the side of the main hill of the town. The buildings mostly looked like family houses, but a few were larger. All had windows, including shutters that could be opened or closed. Occasionally they passed a house with a Dancer inside, which usually resulted in a quick flit away from the open window, or the flash of a tentacle and a shutter quickly closed. She wasn’t sure if they were naturally shy, or whether she represented something the regular townspeople weren’t expecting to see.

  She watched Beextu move. It wasn’t quite swimming, but her body was definitely pushing water. Most of the motion was in the skirt that surrounded her body, with her tentacles merely dangling below. Sometimes, especially when going up a hill, she would touch her central stalk to the ground just between cobblestones, flex and then push off, giving added propulsion. It was a move both graceful and powerful. These creatures could move very quickly when they wished.

  They crested a small hill and stopped at a door to one of the houses. The door itself was dark green and appeared to be made from the kelp trees, just like the platform where their transfer chairs waited. Beextu squeaked and the door opened.

  This is going to be really interesting, Marie thought. She reac
hed up to her headset and switched on the video camera. She followed them inside, ducking through the low doorway. Her air bubble easily kept up, and she found herself standing in a small room with several passages off in multiple directions. There was no furniture, but the walls were decorated with a color pattern that varied in intensity, shifting as if the pattern were projected.

  Beextu and Tonia pivoted to face her. At this close distance, it was easier to see Beextu’s eyes. Circular, and protruding only slightly from the top of her smooth crown, but translucent white like the rest of her body, which made them blend in. Zin’s comment during training finally made sense—that human eyes would be easily noticed. She thought about her own dark eyes and how much they contrasted with her light skin. Human features taken for granted turned out to be unique. Whether they were beautiful or ugly depended on whom you asked.

  Beextu said something, and Tonia translated. “She welcomes you.”

  Marie looked at Beextu, not Tonia. “Beextu, this is amazing. I can’t tell you how happy I am to be here.” Even if most translated words would have to come from Tonia, repeating Beextu’s name might help to make a personal connection.

  The Dancer swayed gently and was silent for a moment. There was no telling how the protocol for a social call worked on this planet. Tea and cookies? A tour of the house?

  Conversation and connection. These were keys to bridging any gap between intelligent beings. It probably didn’t matter that their backgrounds and biology were different. If they could find common ground, good things would follow.

  I must appear strange to her. An alien creature in her house. She may be just as nervous as I am.

  An idea popped into Marie’s head. Her watch, wearable technology, had a few photos from home stored on it. She touched its screen and swiped a few times to find the right picture.

  She looked up at Beextu and carefully moved her arm closer to the edge of the air bubble. She twisted so Beextu could see the image it displayed, a boy about five years old petting a rabbit. “My nephew, my sister’s son. His name is Owen.” Marie held her hand over her heart. “He’s a sweetheart. Cutest little boy on Earth.”