Some distance away, Thomas screamed.
12 Workers
Hawaii at sunset—the surface of Ixtlub was just as beautiful. The soft orange light from the dwarf star cast a golden glow on trees that resembled palms. The warm breeze brushed delightfully across bare skin. Marie took in a deep breath, almost forgetting she wore an oxygen cannula.
They stood on a grassy hill overlooking a long white-sand beach at the shore of a shallow sea that stretched to the horizon. Somewhere beneath the water were the Dancers’ towns and cities, but the only evidence of their existence was a few small structures that broke the surface in places.
Four humans absorbed the tropical scene in silence and awe.
“I could move here,” Stephanie finally said. “A little chalet over there, just by the stream.” The breeze tousled her hair; she looked like a model in a beachwear shoot.
The Dancers’ emissary, Tonia, was due to join them any minute, though how she’d move across dry ground was anyone’s guess. Tonia would be bringing the gift, as she’d called it: an advanced communications device produced by the Dancers and normally worn by the Workers. As she had explained the night before, the device would need to be calibrated for human use—by matching its function to a specific person’s brainwaves.
The device provided deeper insight into the physical world and living things. It could analyze, compile, translate and interpret complexities that no brain could possibly process alone. It extended intellect, and it was the primary communication path between Ixtlub species. To fully understand the relationship between Dancers and Workers, a headband was required.
A longtime technophile, Marie found the idea of enhanced brain function irresistible. But on a personal level, it might also provide a direct link to Beextu. Later, perhaps on some future trip, Marie might visit Beextu alone, just the two of them with no translator or guide. They would pour a glass of wine—or whatever Dancers consumed—and talk for hours, comparing notes about their lives, their customs, science and politics. When they parted, she’d hug Beextu as a sample of how humans interact with good friends. The alien communications device would be the catalyst to make it possible.
For this mission, Tonia could offer only one headband and asked for a single volunteer. Wesley and Marie raised their hands together.
As the team sociologist, Wesley was the natural choice, which Marie quickly acknowledged. “Sorry.” She pulled her hand down. “It makes more sense for Wesley to take it.”
But Zin had intervened. “I disagree. Wesley should observe the Workers unenhanced. A sociologist will produce a more accurate assessment by starting with an unbiased, equivalent view of both species. Marie, however, is quite the technologist among us. I believe the device should be calibrated for her.”
It was a little awkward and surreptitious. Once again, Zin seemed to be Marie’s benefactor, though his reasoning in this case was logical. In the end, Tonia and Wesley agreed. Tonia held an array of sensors against Marie’s forehead, took some measurements and said she’d return the next morning with a calibrated headband.
That time had now come. Marie leaned against a car-sized volcanic rock as they waited for Tonia and the device. Beyond the trees and bushes of the lowland jungle, a cone-shaped peak towered in the distance. Probably the volcano that had blasted the rock into its current position. The volcano looked dormant now.
Tonia approached along a graded dirt pathway, moving far more rapidly on land than her underwater body would seem to allow. The stalk below her bell-shaped midsection pushed off the ground in rapid pulses. She literally vibrated her way across the surface.
She came straight to Marie and held out a rubbery tentacle that gripped a circular silver band. “Calibrated now. For you only.”
Marie held out both hands and accepted the gift. “Thank you, Tonia. I’m honored to receive this technology. I… can’t wait to try it out.”
“Do so now, please.” The others gathered around.
“How?” Marie asked.
“I believe you wear it,” Zin said. He stood to one side of the group. Zin could be surprisingly quiet when he wanted to blend with the background.
Marie examined the metal ring. There were several components attached to it, but if there was a proper way to wear it, she couldn’t tell. She placed it over her head, pushing it down until it stopped above her ears. “Like this?”
Tonia dipped. “To activate, tap twice on the side.”
Marie did as instructed. “What’s next?”
“You won’t need my help,” Tonia said.
And she was right. Marie looked up. The deep azure sky was still dotted with pink clouds, but it was now interwoven with a much more complex overlay of colors, lines and data, as if her own eyes had suddenly become computer displays.
A gradient of color represented temperature, with warm shades of orange near the surface cooling to green and blues higher up. The visual wasn’t labeled in any way as temperature; Marie simply understood. Embedded within the colors were directional wind vectors, as if someone had thrown a handful of straw in the air and each shaft had aligned with the local swirls and eddies of moving air. The lines twisted in real time as the wind changed.
“Oh my God, it’s magical,” Marie said. “So rich. It’s like I’ve never seen the sky before.”
“You understand how to use the device?” Tonia asked.
Layers, she thought. Many of them, each depicting one facet of the wealth of information making up the physical world. Flip between them, visualize them separately, or together. “Yes, I see how it works.” How she’d come to this realization was a mystery, but there it was. No training required.
Stephanie stood next to Marie and looked in the same direction. “What do you see that I don’t?”
“It’s really quite amazing.” Marie described it as best she could, though her words didn’t really do it justice. She started to take the headband off to let Stephanie try it out, but Tonia held out a tentacle.
“Do not. Marie only.”
It was unfortunate the amazing device couldn’t be shared. The colors were vibrant, and the information depicted was so detailed. She could have spent the rest of the day just absorbing the Newtonian physics available in every direction, but Tonia interrupted. “Use the visceral communication layer and we’ll begin.”
Without the headband, Marie wouldn’t have had a clue how to choose this layer, or even what data it provided. With the headband, it was obvious. She flipped, and the visual demonstration of atmospheric motion disappeared.
“Today is different,” Tonia stated to the group. “Unlike Dancers, you do not meet Workers. It is better if Aastazin explains.” She motioned to Zin with a tentacle that looked almost like gold foil.
Zin stepped to the front. “What Aainatonia means is that we won’t be meeting them, we’ll be observing them. Please don’t take it personally, but the invitation to come to Ixtlub was from the Dancers alone. Initially the Workers refused to participate on religious grounds. You are outsiders, and the Workers live by a principle they call doubt, which helps them distinguish good from evil. Doubt was cast upon you by their spiritual leader, which precluded any formal meetings.” He looked around at each person on the team. Most seemed to take the slight in stride. “The Workers’ initial stance was firm, but it was moderated by some influence from the Dancers. It was one of the topics that delayed my arrival yesterday.”
“The Dancers twisted an arm, as humans say,” Tonia added. “They offered more kleek shell.”
“Yes,” continued Zin. “The Workers grind a particular seashell to powder and smoke it. Kleek shell is found only in Dancer territory, and so it becomes a powerful currency between the species.”
“They agree now to limited contact with humans,” Tonia said. “You will be allowed in their community but will observe only.”
“Is that alright?” Zin asked. There were nods all around.
“Marie will observe more,” Tonia said.
Zin nod
ded. “Yes. Be aware, Marie, that you will visualize what the rest cannot. Feel free to let others know what you see.”
The nearby trees parted and a large animal with multiple legs stepped through. Tonia swiveled. “Our escort arrives.”
The Worker stood on four sturdy legs that angled like the hind legs of a horse. Each tapered to a padded foot. Two additional armlike appendages dangled in front ending in a flat hand, like a flipper. Its body was covered in a thick carpet of hair that glistened with oil of some kind. It had a long neck that lifted from the front and ended in a cone shape that was split into four sections that moved like lips over a central mouth. There was no head to speak of, but two slender stalks protruded from the conical end of the neck, about eight inches long, with glassy blue marbles perched at the ends.
The beast stopped before it reached the group and stood tall on its four hind legs. Stretched to its full height, the Worker towered over them. Marie’s visualization provided details, though she had no idea how the information entered her mind: 3.4 meters in height, 1,240 kilos. Giant sloths had roamed the Earth before humans. There were some similarities.
Tonia motioned to the slothlike creature. “This Worker will escort us. Do you have any questions?”
The creature’s mouth moved, its four segments shifting as if it were chewing. It emitted a low groaning sound. Follow me, it seemed to be saying.
“Did you guys hear that?” Marie asked, looking around at her teammates.
“Yeah,” Tim said. “The thing is a farm animal.”
Marie had heard the same groaning sound but also its meaning. It had not used words per se, but the meaning was just as clear. This was definitely no farm animal.
“Only you will understand,” Tonia said to Marie. “The others will hear only vibrations.”
Beastlike, but intelligent. It was dressed, too… in a way. A dull-colored cloth hung over its back, with holes cut for each of its four hind legs. A patch of cloth hung over its rear end, covering sexual organs—at least, that was what the visualization indicated. Two sex organs; each individual was both male and female.
The Worker turned and started down a gravel path in a slow, plodding step. Tonia and Zin followed behind, and the group of humans fell in line after them. From behind, the Worker smelled. Not like a farm animal and not entirely bad, but a foody smell, like cheese, or maybe warm milk.
One planet, two intelligent species, Marie thought. But they couldn’t be more different. Something similar could have happened on Earth if dolphins had developed further.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Worker village was less developed than anything they’d seen in the realm of the Dancers. Buildings were made of wood frames with rusting metal roofs and sides open to the air. The tropical trees and dense vegetation gave it a South Pacific island look. They walked along a curving main road of dirt. At one point a vehicle passed by, rolling on multiple wheels that could easily have been made of hard rubber.
They turned down a smaller dirt path, which brought them to a clearing in the trees and the largest building in the village. The noise of machinery could be heard, with much activity visible through its open sides. A mechanical view of a factory seemed to appear on its own inside Marie’s head. She visualized a repetitive process, an assembly line with the clamor coming primarily from the machines, not the dozens of Workers who took positions along the line.
“We will pass through the factory just once,” Tonia said. “Observe, but please do not stop. We will talk once we arrive in their quiet room.”
It was a sweatshop, literally. Metal machines were everywhere, turning axles, spinning drills and generating an overwhelming heat. Steam-powered, as Marie’s mechanical visualization told her, though there was also overhead lighting that looked similar to electric lights on Earth.
Long tables with Workers on each side held parts of some kind that were being passed from one individual to the next, each Worker fitting a new component into the device and checking its function. Their flat flipperlike hands were split down the middle, and the creatures were surprisingly adept at manipulating cylindrical tools that helped in their work.
Unfortunately, the place stunk—a combination of an oil smell and the stink of rotting food. Most of the smell seemed to be coming from tall open-top cylinders positioned next to each table. They looked like garbage cans.
Every Worker wore a headband almost identical to the one on Marie’s head. In their case, it rested near the end of their necks, looking almost like a dog collar. Marie flipped to a communications layer and visualized a deep blue radio link between her headband and the nearest Worker, but the same link cascaded from one Worker to the next. None of the beasts spoke; their headbands provided full communication as they assembled the parts of whatever machine they were building.
They worked with an intensity and maintained undistracted focus. Marie could feel it, sense it. Remarkably, a group of humans was walking through their factory only a few feet away from their activity, yet none of the Workers seemed to notice.
She could have picked up one of the metal bars leaning against a post and struck one of the Workers across its back, but there was little doubt that its focus would have remained fixed on its purpose. Bred to work? Or controlled by the headband? The answer wasn’t clear.
One Worker turned to the cylindrical garbage can, lowered its neck and spewed a stream of greenish-yellowish liquid from its mouth, some of which splattered across the cylinder’s side. Another Worker next to it did the same. The disgusting moves were repeated as a wave of Workers spat into the cans and then returned to their work. It appeared to be a group bodily function of some kind, like a communal bathroom break. The stink in the factory increased noticeably.
They exited the factory, and Marie and Stephanie exchanged glances of disgust. The group was ushered into a separate building, the only one they’d seen with walls. The noise of the factory disappeared when a door closed behind them.
“Well, that was revolting,” Stephanie said.
“Their work disturbs you?” Tonia asked.
“Not their work, their lack of personal hygiene. Sorry, I don’t mean to be critical. I guess they’re just different from us or the Dancers.”
“The variety of life is notable,” Tonia answered. “Even on your own world.”
“My apologies to all of you,” Zin said quite sympathetically. “I neglected to warn about the spitting. Their digestive systems are similar to your own, except that the bile you generate in your liver occurs in their throats. They must excrete it back through their mouth on occasion. I should have mentioned this, but my olfactory sensor was turned off.”
Stephanie spoke quietly to Marie. “I’m withdrawing my earlier statement. I don’t think I could live here.”
“Not even on a temporary ambassador status?” Marie asked with a grin. “We can tag-team. I’ll be the ambassador for the Dancers, and you can take the Workers.”
“Very funny,” Stephanie answered. “I think I’ll stick to reporting.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Their guide brought them to two more buildings. The first was another factory, this one enclosed. The headband provided precise measurements of the components being manufactured, giving Marie a clear indication of high technology. At one point, the images projected into Marie’s brain became distorted and fuzzy. It gave her a queasy feeling, and she pulled the band off for a few minutes.
Like virtual reality motion sickness? The queasiness soon passed, and she replaced the band on her head as they entered the second building.
It was described as a ceremonial hall, though as Tim suggested, church seemed to be a more apt description. Several Workers sat in a circle, drawing smoke from a communal pipe and chanting. Kleek shell, Zin identified. Their words honored their ancestors. It was all very interesting until one of the Workers pulled a small rodentlike animal from a box and popped the wriggling creature live into its mouth.
After the ceremony, they moved t
o an empty building next to the church for a lunch break, but no one was very hungry. Stephanie and Wesley engaged Zin and Tonia in a deep conversation about the relationship between the Dancers and the Workers. Tim sat on a porch step, sending a video message back to NASA through his hip-mounted relay. Marie wandered outside through the open doorway.
Still wearing the headband, Marie flipped through several fascinating layers of visualization. She scanned the palmlike trees and noticed the transpiration of water through their leaves and the process of photosynthesis discharging oxygen. Even if plant DNA was entirely different, plant chemistry was the same as on Earth.
A new layer popped up—something to do with communication alerts, though Marie had no idea how it had been selected. She tapped on the side of her head. “That’s funny. I’m not sure I’m in control of this thing.”
Tim looked up from his message. “Well, Kendrick, if you aren’t, then nobody is.”
From behind the church, the sky lit up in red.
Help me!
Marie swiveled, looking for the source. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” asked Tim.
“A cry for help.”
“You might want put that thing in airplane mode,” Tim said. The red color behind the church intensified.
I am lost. Please help me!
It groaned. The cry was from a Worker, Marie was certain.
“Someone’s in trouble.” Marie ran a dozen steps to get a better view around the church. The visualization showed a red glow hovering over a clearing in the trees. An open platform stood alone in the clearing with a figure standing in its center. “I’ll be right back,” Marie said to Tim and started toward the platform.
“Kendrick, just stay put,” Tim griped. “You’re imagining things.”
Marie heard him, but the information within the communications alert visualization advised her otherwise. The deepening red color signified suffering and fear. A Worker was in agonizing pain. Marie ran toward the platform.
I have sinned. Doubt has been cast upon me. Save me!
The platform was a low wooden frame with another large plank of wood standing straight up from its surface. Heavy wood, very solid. The crying Worker was tied to the vertical plank, unable to move. Marie stopped at its edge and surveyed the scene. Except for the bound Worker, no one else was around. She stepped onto the platform.
The Quantum Series Box Set Page 39