The snow at Demon Lodge had crusted over during the night and the skis worn by Parthney, Muchlo and Kach filled the forest with scraping sounds. Parthney wondered if Ario might notice their departure, but Muchlo led them quickly on the down slope and soon Parthney could no longer see the soft glow in the clouds that marked the Lodge's position on the side of Kel Stoen.
The trio found themselves in fog and a low cloud deck that first spat drizzle then light rain. It seemed that Muchlo was breaking trial at the top speed that Kach could match. Parthney found himself constantly running up to within inches of the back of Kach's skis. They fell into a rhythm of motion and Parthney watched the shadow-like movement of Kach's body as it rippled the rain suit that had grown around her. By the time they reached the last uphill stretch before the dangerous scarp face they were in a steady heavy rain and slogging through the rain-softened wet snow.
Kach paused to catch thons breath. Muchlo had already started out across the treacherous avalanche slope then stopped and looked back up the slope at Kach and Parthney.
Breathing hard, Kach said to Parthney, "You better go ahead of me so you don't run me over."
"No, your skis are the same width as Muchlo's. Mine are wider and will ruin the trail for you."
"In this rain it does not matter."
Muchlo called to them, "Let's go. We need to get off the scarp before this rain triggers avalanches." As if on cue, they heard the rumble of an avalanche far above them.
Had he been alone, Parthney would have gone back to the Lodge, but he hoped that Muchlo, with thons fantastic pek strength, would be able to dig he and Kach out of the snow if they were caught in an avalanche. On the horizon there seemed to be a soft glow where the sun was trying to show through the thick storm clouds. Kach pushed off with her ski poles and Parthney followed, careful not to pick up more speed than Kach.
By the time they were finally past the scarp, kel Stoen was a never ending rumble of crashing snow, but they'd passed safely through the danger zone. None of the avalanches letting loose on the higher slopes had come down to sweep them away.
They paused for a rehydration break. Muchlo opened the trail kitchen and handed water to Parthney. He drank deeply then told Kach, "You are a great skier." He'd always thought of Buld as incapable of using hand tools and hopelessly clumsy while on skis.
Kach nodded and turned so that the wind was not in thons face. "We do a lot of traveling in all seasons. We can't let snow be an obstruction."
Parthney could now see that Kach's face was wet and flushed pink. He wondered if Kach knew Muchlo's secret: that Muchlo was pek. He asked, "Muchlo never lets you rest?"
Kach laughed. "Muchlo follows orders. I'll rest when I retire."
"Then you know-?"
"Of course."
Parthney had to ask, "Are you also in disguise?"
"I'm no pek."
"I thought not. I've never seen a red faced pek huffing and grunting down a trail."
"I don't grunt."
"It took me weeks to get used to the elevation of Demon Lodge." Kach grabbed his water and drank. Parthney was used to Buld who would only drink tiny amounts of ceremonial tea. "Don't make yourself sick."
"I know my capacity."
"So, tell me, why do you do it?"
Kach took another long drink then handed the water back to Parthney. "What?"
"Go around making Muchlo pretend to be a transmitter."
"That's a long story. For one thing, doing so relieves me of the obligation to answer annoying questions."
Parthney laughed. "Am I annoying you? I've felt sick ever since you showed up. Do you feel it too?"
Kach shrugged and dismissed his question, "Many Buld get nervous when they think about their music being transmitted to the Prelands. Particularly the rebels who amuse themselves by demonstrating their disrespect for the Creators."
Muchlo said, "We should get moving again."
The rain was relentless, but the trail was now steadily down slope and they made good time. When it was late afternoon and the sky was darkening Muchlo stopped and said to Kach, "Stony Creek Lodge is not far."
Kach went around Muchlo then paused, turned and said to Parthney, "Have fun on Oib. I hope you get to meet a lisden named Pla'va." Kach briefly raised a hand in a half-hearted wave or salute then went off down the trail towards Stony Creek Lodge.
Parthney had heard that there were Buld scholars based at some of the space elevators of Hemmal, but the ancient term "lisden" was usually mentioned in the context of the academies on Oib. Parthney asked Muchlo, "Kach has been to Oib?"
"No. Let's go." Muchlo headed off in a direction perpendicular to the trail.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm taking you to the nearest space elevator."
Parthney suddenly felt tired. During the day he had fallen into a comfortable rhythm of movement behind Kach on the trail, but now that feeling of -flow- was gone. Parthney now felt a surging antagonism towards Muchlo. "That's not the way to go!"
Muchlo briefly stopped and sternly explained to Parthney, "There is an access shaft in this mountain. Hurry, now."
Parthney followed, but complained. "I tell you, the closest elevator is well past Stony Creek Lodge. We should go with Kach."
Muchlo did not pause, "Maybe you've learned not to trust me, but don't you trust Kach?"
"Not really, I still don't understand why Kach makes you pretend to be Buld."
Muchlo said no more. It was all but dark and Parthney could hardly see to follow Muchlo. Muchlo seemed to have no trouble seeing where to go in the dark. They were now walking up a steep slope, their long skis had morphed into stubby snow climbing shoes. Parthney was thoroughly winded but Muchlo maintained a quick pace. Finally Muchlo stopped walking and began digging into the snow.
At first Parthney wondered if they were going to camp there for the night on the side of the mountain. Several times Parthney had spent a night in a snow cave. Soon Muchlo's nanite snow shovel was scraping rock.
Suddenly they were bathed in light. Parthney exclaimed, "A door!"
They stepped out of the storm and went into the tunnel that had opened up before them. Stepping inside, the door closed behind them automatically. Muchlo led the way down a narrow hallway where Parthney had to bend low. The deeper they went the warmer it was and their outdoors clothing melted away. They reached a small glass-walled chamber where Muchlo sat down. "Squeeze in, there's room for both of us." There was enough space for only the two of them, with no room for extras.
Parthney felt motion and realized that they were in some kind of transport tube. "Amazing."
Muchlo explained, "Hemmal has a network of these tubes." As they rocketed along, occasionally the tunnel widened into a chamber where Parthney could see flashed glimpses of mysterious devices.
"Does Kach know?"
"Of course. Kach learned all about Hemmal from the scholars."
"Kach is a Buld scholar?"
"No, scholars are not allowed to wander around on Hemmal."
Parthney felt himself warming and drying and his trail boots had melted away, leaving behind soft slippers. He noticed that where his skin rested against Muchlo thons skin felt cool and waxy: the normal pek body surface. Parthney said, "I like you better as a woman."
Muchlo mused, "Given your inexperience it wasn't hard for me to fool you and make you think of me as a woman, but don't fool yourself. Don't tell yourself that you made love to a woman."
The transport pod decelerated rapidly and came to a stop inside a well lit chamber. Muchlo got out of the pod and went to the nearest wall. Parthney followed along and saw part of the wall dissolve. Through the newly formed portal he could see a small chamber. Muchlo nodded towards the new opening, "Go on in."
Parthney stepped in and turned back to face Muchlo. The pek said, "Pla'va is waiting for you. Watch out for thons tricks...there's always a great wash of tears or some other type of heart-stirring in the offing." The door sealed shut before Parthney could say anything. He felt motion and realized that this was the space elevator. The pod went up and Parthney could only settle in and ride.
When he was a child he'd once entered the atrium of a space elevator. Anyone on Hemmal could ride an elevator off planet. Parthney had been told that nobody who left Hemmal ever came back.
There were rumors about the location of the Buld scholars. Some said that they lived at the base of certain elevators while others claimed that they were in orbit at the top of one of the elevators. Parthney imagined that maybe Kach had gone as for as the orbiting terminus of an elevator and spent time there studying with the scholars. The elevator accelerated ever more strongly and Parthney sank to the floor.
Halfway up into space there was a moment of free fall, then the acceleration flipped and Parthney found himself sitting on the ceiling. Finally the ride ended and the pod door opened. Parthney stood up and stepped out into the reception chamber. A voice said, "Come on up to the dock."
Editor's note. Parthney had some trouble communicating with Pla'va and everyone he met after leaving Hemmal and starting his training. On Hemmal, the pek make sure that everyone speaks the same dialect of English. Elsewhere in the Koly system language drifts and transforms into special dialects and many of the newer words that are imported from Earth and used on Hemmal are not commonly used by the Pla and most of the Buld on worlds like Oib. In my description of what follows I've edited out most of the miscommunications that Parthney experienced because of the language differences between Parthney and Pla'va.
__________________
Parthney looked around the small room, but he could see no one. Where had the voice come from? Parthney called out, "Where are you?" There was no reply. Parthney examined a strange object on the wall across from the pod door, but the only way out seemed to be the elevator pod and the elevator shaft.
Suddenly a door opened in the wall. A large spotted cat came through the door, walked around Parthney's feet then went out the door and trotted off down the corridor. Parthney followed, thinking about what might become of his pet, Bakeko. Would its nanite components simply wander off and become something new? Would Bakeko become the pet of the next male born on Hemmal? Already Demon Lodge seemed far away and his memories of Hemmal as fragile as a cloud of nanites.
Parthney followed the cat through a series of doorways and passages then it passed through one more door and leaped into the arms of a waiting Buld who said, "Welcome aboard, Parthney."
Parthney bowed in traditional formal greeting and asked, "Are you Pla'va?"
"That's what they call me."
Parthney was puzzled by Pla'va's appearance. Thon was nearly as tall as Parthney, taller than any Buld he had known on Hemmal, but thons body was sleek and shaped like a Buld's. Parthney asked, "Do you know Kach?"
"Kach?"
"A Buld on Hemmal. Kach told me that thon knew you when thon studied with the scholars."
"Buld? You knew a Buld named Kach? I knew someone named Kach. That was years and years ago. I sometimes shuttle folks between the various scholar enclaves here in orbit. It can be amazingly difficult for them to make the trip by going down one elevator, across the surface of Hemmal and up again. I like the scholars so I'm always glad to shuttle them around. Kach was very curious and seemed to want to hear from scholars at each and every school." Pla'va turned, tossed the cat to the side and approached the control platform. A wall lit up with a view of Hemmal. Parthney came to stand by Pla'va and stared in wonder at the image of his home planet.
Pla'va watched Parthney and said, "This is your first time in space, eh?"
Parthney nodded. He was mesmerized by this view of Hemmal from space. After a moment he found his voice. "Yes, it is. I never imagined...the verbal descriptions failed..."
Pla'va reached out and touched the hair on Parthney's face next to his ear. Parthney was startled. Pla'va slowly pulled thons hand away from Parthney. "You are male."
"You seem surprised."
"Muchlo's message was vague...only indicating that a human named Parthney was coming up for transport to Oib. I hoped..."
Parthney looked away from Hemmal and saw that Pla'va was blushing. "You've never seen a human before?"
Pla'va replied, "Kach was on this ship a half dozen times."
"Kach?" Parthney was startled by the idea, then he thought about it. There was something unusual about the way Kach moved. And the way Kach could drink. And why did Kach and Muchlo wear those absurd Preland costumes all the time? Bulky costumes that could hide the contours of a body. Parthney asked, "Kach is a...woman?"
Pla'va shrugged. "When I knew her, she was young. She told me that she was a girl, a human female."
Parthney had felt baffled by Muchlo pretending to be Buld, but he now felt like a fool. How could he not have known? Parthney had to say it: "Kach is a woman". He chuckled. "She was disguised on Hemmal...I assumed that she was Buld."
Pla'va laughed. "Can't you tell the difference between a woman and a Buld?"
Parthney wondered if Pla'va was making fun of him, but Pla'va had turned and activated the navigation console. Its surface lit up with a map. Pla'va studied the map, but spoke to Parthney, "I've seen images of males, but I'm surprised by how big you are. Look here." Pla'va pointed to a marker on the map.
Parthney looked at the displayed map, but was baffled by its strangeness and intricacy. Pla'va explained, "This is were we are, in orbit near Hemmal." The view expanded. Pla'va pointed again, "That's the position of Oib."
Parthney pointed at a third marker, "What is this?"
"The position of Koly."
"Koly?"
"That's what people on Oib call the star that Hemmal and Oib orbit. What name do you use?"
"On Hemmal it is just called 'sun'. I never imagined that the sun is between Hemmal and Oib."
"That depends on the orbits." Pla'va put the map in motion and Parthney could see the positions of the planets changing. "This curve is the orbit of Hemmal. See how quickly Hemmal moves...before long the paired planets will again be aligned on the same side of Koly, but right now it is a long way from here to there." Pla'va made some careful hand motions on the map display and laid in the course to Oib. "There, we are now on our way."
In the wall display Parthney saw Hemmal twist away from view. The station at the top of the elevator briefly came into view then spun away. Parthney observed, "I don't feel motion."
"I have good gravitic generators on this little boat."
"I feel wobbly."
"Ya, you should since this is Oib gravity, about half that of Hemmal. You'll get used to it." Pla'va watched Parthney and asked, "Does it feel strange leaving your home world?"
"When I first left my home village I felt lonely and lost, but since then I...it's like I'm being driven on to...a better place. I'll miss my friends...I did not get a chance to say goodbys...but Hemmal is not for humans...not for me. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I think I do. I think about humans a lot and their place in the galaxy."
Parthney wondered, "How long will it take us to get to Oib?"
Pla'va looked at the map and seemed to think about it. Finally thon said, "Almost a week. We could take a more direct route but it is best to keep one's distance from stars. This little ship is built for speed, not for shielding from bursts of stellar radiation."
"Radiation?"
Pla'va put an image of Koly on a wall. "Koly is fairly wild for such a small star. Look! Tons of matter and particles are blasted off its surface all the time. Our navigation system tracks the mass ejections."
"I had no idea there was such...violence. From Hemmal the sun seems peaceful enough."
"You have much to learn. The people of Hemmal are ignorant of so many things."
Parthney pointed to the spotted cat. It was sitting near the door, watching them. "Who is that?"
"My meonuck, Ka'po." Hearing its name, the cat stood up and meowed. "Ka is not much good for conversation on a long voyage. I'll be happy to have you to...to talk to, Parthney. I get very lonely."
Parthney turned back to look at Pla'va and thought about what it might be like to be alone for a week. At most he had been alone for two days on a trail between lodges. Parthney carefully looked at Pla'va's tall, lithe body. "So, you are Buld."
"You don't seem sure of that. Do you doubt your own eyes?"
"I've learned not to trust my eyes. Muchlo and Kach only pretended to be Buld. They tricked me completely, but Muchlo told me that thon is pek and now that you told me that Kach is human I can believe it. I should have figured that out on my own."
Pla'va seemed amused. "Muchlo pretended to be Buld?"
Parthney nodded. "I guess Kach made Muchlo pretend to be Buld to help her hide the fact that she's female."
A small grin was on Pla'va's face. "Never trust a pek. I wonder why Kach would trick you in such a cruel way."
"Cruel?"
"They say humans are quite rare. Don't humans get lonely? I'd expect a woman to eagerly reveal herself to a man."
Something in the way Pla'va spoke made Parthney wonder if he was being tricked again. "Are you pek?"
Pla'va giggled. "Are you a skeptic or is that just wishful thinking? I wonder what I could do to make you believe what I tell you."
"Well, I'm sorry to doubt you, but you seem tall for a Buld. Are people on Oib taller because of the low gravity?"
"No, I'm simply unusually tall for a Buld. I'm a freak."
"A freak?"
"That's what I've been called. And, 'Fat bothet!' 'Bitch!' 'Woman!' 'Amazon!' A dozen other rude taunts and epithets. The Buld on Oib make fun of me." Pla'va turned to look at the stars in the wall display. Parthney saw a tear spill from thons eye and roll down thons cheek.
Parthney remembered Muchlo's warning about Pla'va and chuckled.
Pla'va said, "And you're laughing at me, too."
Parthney shook his head. "No, I'm not. On Hemmal I was called 'mutant', but the Buld on Hemmal are rarely rude. I'm not laughing at you, I just remembered something someone said to me."
"By now I should be used to being laughed at. I am a freak."
"You are tall, but that does not bother me. I get tired of towering over short Buld. You're certainly not fat."
"I have fat."
Parthney patted his belly. "I've eaten well this winter... I have fat."
"Winter?"
"The cold season on Hemmal."
"Oh, right. In space it is always cold." Pla'va wiped away the tears and looked back at Parthney, "You are so large. The pictures of males don't really convey such...bulk. You are almost frightening, and hairy...and your voice...booms."
"All because I'm male."
"They say that humans can eat ever so much."
"Compared to Buld, that's true. And I am hungry. It's been a long day on the trail for me."
"Oh, sorry, I'm not a very good host. Let's go to the galley."
Ka'po went bounding ahead. Parthney and Pla'va walked side by side. Pla'va glanced sideways at Parthney, met his eye. "You do think I'm fat."
"No, I don't."
"You keep looking...at my body."
"I'm sorry, but I enjoy looking at you. And when I first saw you I thought you might be a woman. I've imagined that women might be as tall as me. Kach was tall for a Buld and you are much taller than Kach."
"She was only a child when I knew her. A girl...still growing."
They had reached the galley and Pla'va activated the oven. Thon pulled out a tray with two small cups of tea. Handing a cup to Parthney, Pla'va said, "Welcome to my little spaceship, Parthney. Please refrain from calling me a woman....and don't imagine that I'm a pek in disguise...I don't want you to end up believing that I tricked you into thinking I'm something that I am not."
Parthney drained the little cup in a single gulp. "I hope this doesn't insult you, but I think you'd make a beautiful woman."
Pla'va was taking dainty little sips of the tea. Pla'va raised thons eyebrows. "I'm not sure what you mean. They say that on Hemmal the Buld...you know..."
"What?"
"They say that Buld..." Pla'va looked shyly at Parthney over the rim of her cup, "...give birth to humans."
"Yes, Buld can give birth."
"But aren't children...too big to...be made by Buld....to be birthed...from Buld...."
Parthney laughed. "They say that the embryo comes out of its mother before it has grown large. The Buld birth canal does not need to be large."
Pla'va nodded. "That is what they say. So, you think I could give birth to a beautiful woman?"
Parthney laughed. "That's not what I meant, but sure, that too. Although, I've learned that different people have different opinions about beauty. They say that Buld change appearance from week to week, that the Buld notice those changes, but I never could."
"Some people like natural beauty, but others go to vast trouble to adorn themselves, to prettify. It's all just tricks performed with nanites." Pla'va asked, "Are your mother and father beautiful?"
Parthney replied, "I've often wondered who my mother is. I never knew my parents. Men are supposed to be handsome."
"If you were not thinking about my children then what did you mean?" Pla'va took Parthney's empty cup. "More tea?"
Ka'po growled and pulled open the oven door.
"Yes, no doubt you are correct, Ka, Parthney probably wants a meal, not little cups of tea." Pla'va pulled out a tray of food and set it on the table. "I don't know what kind of food a big human male like you might like, Parthney. Let me know if this food is not to your taste."
They sat down at the table and Parthney ate. The food was bland, but he did not complain. Pla'va sipped tea and intently watched Parthney eat. For a time Ka'po patrolled around the table then sat beside Pla'va. After a few minutes Parthney said, "I only meant that if you were a woman then you would be a pretty one. Certainly you are not fat and I see nothing unattractive about you. Yandrey told me all about fat and obesity and as a human I'm the only one that the term 'fat' can really apply to. Yandrey said that Buld simply don't store fat in the way that humans do." Again he patted his belly.
"Yandrey?"
"A Buld on Hemmal. He was trained as a scholar and taught me about biology."
"I see. Well, I'm not a normal Buld. I'm a freak and I do have fat."
"Well, Buld do have fat, but not very much. Yandrey said that humans in the wild need fat."
"The wild?"
"On Earth."
"Oh! Do you believe that Earth is real? Or just a mythical idea?"
"Some people use other names, but no matter what it is called it is the world of human origin. It must be real, no matter what you call it...we all came from some planet originally."
"That's what they say. The lisden. The Prelands say that we Buld were simply created. Anyhow, you are sweet. So many Buld don't know how to enjoy their bodies. They want to pretend not to be animals. I'm glad you like me...as an animal. It's wonderful that you think I'm pretty." Pla'va smiled and seemed to glow. Thon reached across the small table and placed a hand on Parthney's arm.
"I'm a young male. According to Yandrey I'm supposed to enjoy the sight of pretty girls."
Pla'va nodded. "On Oib, a major passtime of the Buld is to obsess over sexual attractiveness. Within the small populations of Buld on the generation ships that Buld instinct is needed for survival."
"Yes, my whole life I've heard Buld excitedly assessing how cute their acquaintances are, day by day. Yandrey told me that I have a different concept of prettiness than the Buld."
Pla'va pushed thons fingers through thons hair. "I'm told that the situation is different on Hemmal where temple bothets can manage the reproductive process, but out here, Buld glorify their ability to recognize when others are fertile. Depending on the phase of person's reproductive hormone cycle other Buld will view them as irresistibly sexy, cute, plain or physically repulsive. On the same day, one Buld who is reproductively synchronized with another will praise thons miraculous beauty while others in different phases of the reproductive cycle will have other opinions."
Parthney felt the need to be honest. "I hope this does not upset you and make you feel I'm taking back a compliment, but I never saw a Buld who wasn't pretty...well except for one after thon had crashed into tree. And even then thons face was repaired by the next day."
"As a man you lust. They say the Creators designed Prelands to avoid...male lust."
"It is true, I've never known a Buld who was as lustful as I am." Pla'va flushed pink and Parthney chuckled. "Actually, I'm surprised that you are so interested in humans and women and men and lust and that you like to hear a male call you pretty."
"I'm a freak." Again Pla'va became quiet and watched Parthney eat.
Parthney grew uneasy under Pla'va's unwavering attention. "Now you're staring at me."
"You are...amazing. You are eating so much. Will you be sick?"
"No, I only eat until I'm full."
"That's what they say...that even a human can become...full. Still, it is startling to see something incomprehensible happen right before your eyes. Thanks for letting me watch."
Parthney chuckled. "Sure, no problem. And now, I'll thank you for showing me Hemmal. That was amazing. And burning Koly."
"Hemmal is a pretty sight." Pla'va activated a wall display and called up an image of Hemmal. Then activated the display on another wall, "That's Oib. Some day it will also be blue, with a beautiful ocean of its own."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't they teach you anything on Hemmal? No, of course not. We're trying to create an ocean on Oib. I spend a lot of time helping shuttle useful materials to Oib from all over the Koly system."
"Useful?"
"Mostly needed gasses...hydrogen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen...some water, but there is a lot of that already in the structure of Oib, but frozen. Oib is too cold. We'll fix that."
Pla'va talked about the terraforming of Oib until Parthney was done eating.
Pla'va said, "Hemmal is pretty, Oib is dull and dead. What did you mean when you said that I am pretty? On Oib you have to be a tiny wisp of a Buld to be called pretty. Sometimes they say 'cute'...cute as a button."
"Well, I suppose I'm not intimidated by your height, so by my subjective judgment I can call you both pretty and cute." Parthney looked carefully at Pla'va. Pla'va flushed pink and glanced away shyly from his inspection. "I'm not sure I can explain why I like certain things and not others."
"I think I know. I have a theory about this. On Oib there are people who...adorn themselves. Some try to dress like a bothet. Of course, most people find that revolting. They call it perverse or they say it is 'acting like an animal'."
Parthney shrugged. "I suppose that's why I never fit in on Hemmal. I don't mind being an animal. I am an animal. Humans are animals. The Prelands try to pretend that they are not animals. So many Buld are skinny and...well, when I see their bodies they seem like boys. I prefer girl bodies."
"I see. You think I look like a girl."
"The only boy I ever saw was myself. No Buld really looks like a boy, but some look...less like a boy. I don't know...it's just that some people have a look that I like."
"I'm just glad you like my look. I'm sorry to say that I'm a bit afraid of your 'look'. You seem like a some great beast. On Oib, a small meonuck is called 'cute', a large one that intimidates people might be called a beast."
Parthney grinned, "Well, I hope you get used to my beastly appearance. I'd hate to think that I scare you."
"Dessert?" Pla'va pulled a small tray of chocolate from the oven.
Parthney put a piece of the dark confection in his mouth and chewed then quickly washed it down with water. "It's Bitter. What is it?"
Pla'va nibbled daintily on a piece. "They call it chocolate. I like it. There is a white version that is sweet. On Oib they say..." Pla'va blushed.
"What do they say?"
"Well, they say, 'sweet as mama's teat'." Pla'va blushed even pinker. "If you eat food on Oib they'll call you a fat bothet and say that you like it sweet, like mama's teat."
"That's a rude and childish insult. People have nipples because humans in the wild fed their children with milk from the teat. That's just biology."
"You've seen milk?"
"Not real milk. I've never seen a woman. Well, I did not know that Kach is a woman. I'd expect this oven to be able to make milk."
"Yes, it can. I've tasted it it. I'm a freak. I do like food. And particularly sweets."
"There's nothing freakish about it, although on Hemmal most of the Buld are ashamed to be seen eating."
"All Buld are, except perverts and freaks. Well, on Oib they say, 'throwback', 'primitive throwback', 'freak'."
"On Hemmal the pek try to make people feel ashamed of their biology. I've always had the impression that Buld don't really like the taste of food."
"Well, there are no pek on Oib. Just meonuck." Pla'va patted Ka'po, sitting at thons side. "But most Buld get sick if they eat bulk food, so they make fun of anyone who likes food."
Parthney placed a hand over Pla'va's hand. "I see why Kach said that she hoped I would meet you, Pla'va. You are like no Buld I've ever known...or imagined."
Pla'va smiled and batted her eyes. "I'm glad I was nearby and could be the one to bring you to Oib."
Parthney yawned. "Sorry. I'm having fun talking with you, but I've had a long day."
Pla'va jumped up. "Ka! Take Parthney to cabin two. Sleep well. Tomorrow I'll give you a tour of my ship."
Parthney stood up from the table and bowed again to Pla'va. Pla'va stepped forward and gently brushed thons lips across Parthney's cheek. Parthney asked. "What did I do to provoke that?"
Pla'va's eyes were smokey pools that for a moment seemed to want to drown Parthney then her dark lashes fluttered and she shyly stepped back. "I'm so happy that you are here. I want you to feel welcomed here. I hope I have not transgressed on the customs of Hemmal."
"Not really, the Buld like to hug, but they don't kiss with any more frequency than they use their hands with tools. Yandrey says that the Buld brain is blocked from enjoying the use of lips and fingers and..."
Pla'va took hold of Parthney's wrist and ran a finger tip across the palm of his hand. "I'm Pla, so I know what you mean about Buld and hands and lips and...but you are tired. Again, welcome." Pla'va released his hand and signaled to Ka'po.
Parthney followed Ka'po to the cabin and got on the bed, but he felt odd in the low gravity and there was only a thin cloth covering on the bed. He began to get worried about his clothing which had not changed at all since he had arrived on Pla'va's spaceship.
For a time Parthney though about Kach and all the clues he had ignored that suggested her true identity as a woman. He flicked his eyes open and was annoyed that the lights had not automatically dimmed. He fell asleep thinking about Pla'va and wondering what other surprises were coming his way.
Parthney woke up in his cabin feeling cold and hungry. The lights had been dimmed. Pla'va was standing next to the bed. Thon said, "Finally. They say humans sleep a lot, but I was getting worried."
"Yandrey says that human brains are different so we need more sleep."
"Yes, Yandrey. Long ago thon lived on Oib."
Parthney expressed surprise. "Yesterday you did not seem to know of Yandrey."
"I looked in the old records."
"Records?"
"Text, images, videos...My ship has information that goes right back to when Oib was first settled."
"You can read?"
"Well, it does not matter if you know. Yes, I can read, and write."
"You studied with the scholars?"
Pla'va wrinkled thons nose. "Bah, they only have picture books."
"What do you read?"
"Letters, words...text. Like on the control consoles." Parthney looked puzzled. "Come, I'll explain." Parthney got out of bed and again wondered about his clothing. He had woken up several times during the night, cold and wishing for blankets.
Pla'va activated a control on the wall and the room brightened. "Look at this display panel. This says, 'lights', this word says 'intercom', this word, 'doors'."
Parthney asked, "Intercom?"
"I used the intercom system when you came up the elevator and I spoke to you." Pla'va manipulated the control panel and said, "They don't use this technology on Hemmal." Parthney heard Pla'va's voice come loudly through hidden speakers in the room.
"Interesting! And useful. I wonder why this is not available on Hemmal."
Pla'va shrugged. "They have pek on Hemmal."
Pla'va took Parthney by the hand and led him out of his cabin and back to the navigation console. Pla'va pointed at the control strips. "And here, look at the map. This label says 'Oib', 'o', 'i', 'b'."
"I see. And this one?"
"That is our position. "It is labeled, the letters 'p', 'l', 'a', '2', '3', it says 'Pla-23'."
Parthney pointed to another label on the map, "This is 'p', 'l', 'a'..."
"Seventeen. Another spaceship, heading out into the belt. Pla-17."
"Belt?"
"The region of small planetoids beyond the orbit of Oib. We get a lot of materials for Oib from the belt."
Parthney asked, "Can this map show...everywhere? Even Earth?"
Pla'va laughed, "Don't be absurd. This is only a local navigation map...it depends on electromagnetism...radar and radio. It's useless outside of the Koly system, although there are star charts. But I forget, they don't teach people such things on Hemmal. Since people don't know where Earth is they think it is only a mythical place."
"Let me try." Parthney experimented with the map, moving his hands over its surface, zooming the view in and out. He even got Pla'va to show him how to plot the course of spaceships across the map.
Finally Parthney stopped playing with the map controls and looked at Pla'va. Pla'va smiled then looked away. "You're staring at me again."
"Sorry, I had a strange thought. You seem...different today."
"I warned you, I'm a fat freak."
"When I woke up and saw you standing by the bed in the shadows you reminded me of someone on Hemmal."
"I remind you of a bothet?"
"Well, yes."
"That's why they call me a fat bothet. Yesterday I had my fat all bound up, but that makes me uncomfortable."
"Bound up?"
"With tight clothing, so you wouldn't see..." Pla'va blushed.
"See what?"
"See my fat jiggle."
Parthney laughed. Pla'va blushed even pinker and tears seemed to instantly well up in thons eyes. Parthney apologized, "I'm sorry that I laughed, but I don't see why this upsets you. I lived with a bothet on Hemmal who had much more...fat than you do. Anyhow, Yandrey taught me that women are supposed to jiggle and I like it. So you're going to have to get used to me looking at your body. And I want to ask you about clothing. And blankets."
"Oh, yes, I forgot! They say clothing is automated by nanites on Hemmal. Come with me." Pla'va grabbed Parthney's hand and led him to cabin one.
Parthney pointed to the text on the wall near the door. "These are some of the letters you showed me. And this."
"Very good, but that one's a number. This sign says 'cabin 1'.
Parthney asked, "Can you teach me to read?"
"You're quick recognizing text. Most Buld are not interested in reading. If you are good with your hands then you can write, too. Most Buld can't write."
"The more I think about it, the more I seem to remember being taught to read when I was very young, but there is nothing to read on Hemmal...the Buld don't read. Yandrey said it is different among the lisden and on Earth. And I'm good with my hands. I like to build musical instruments."
"Oh, really? Many of the tribes in the outer system have instrumental music."
They went into Pla'va's cabin and thon opened a drawer that was full of clothing and pulled out an elastic band. "I wear this when I run on the lower decks." Pla'va pulled the tight fitting band over thons shirt. "See, I can't jiggle when I wear this." Pla'va pulled a pair of elastic shorts out of the drawer, "These are my running shorts...they support my..." Pla'va slapped her bottom.
Parthney laughed, "You have no jiggle to speak of down there and your breasts aren't that different from mine! Probably in this low gravity people don't sag as much as they do on Hemmal."
"Don't laugh, there's fat back there, and it bounces when I walk."
"If you say so. Have you ever seen a bothet? No? If you had then you'd know what jiggle really is."
Pla'va took hold of Parthney's hand and guided it to her buttock. Parthney patted and shrugged, "Feels like muscle."
"It's not all muscle. I once tried to go for a run on Oib and they whistled at me and shouted, 'Cow!', 'Stampede!' and worse."
"Stampede?"
A tear rolled down Pla'va's cheek. "I don't know what it means. The linguistic records only suggest that it is how some big fat animals move. A stampede."
Pla'va wiped away the tear and manipulated the control panel on the drawer. "I suppose you don't know how to make clothing." Pla'va showed Parthney how to use the equipment in the front panel of the clothing drawer to program the production of clothing. "The process is nanite-guided and you just use these little pictures. You don't even need to know how to read. Look! This is actual cloth. If you make a mistake or just get tired of some piece of clothing then it goes in here for fiber recycling." Pla'va pulled a thick blanket off of her bed, "Take this blanket, I have a whole drawer full of them, each with a different pattern."
Parthney looked at the pattern on the blanket. On Hemmal the Buld clothing is mostly dull solid colors, but this cloth was bright and intricately patterned. "Is this Ka'po?"
"I tried to make it look like Ka'po. The loom controls are made for geometric patterns so it is hard to weave out a cat."
Parthney looked around and realized that unlike the previous day Ka'po was nowhere to be seen.
They went to Parthney's cabin. Pla'va helped him put the blanket on his bed. He explained how the appearance and disappearance of clothing occurred on Hemmal. "On Hemmal, when we sleep we get under blankets and our clothing melts off."
"So I've been told. Pek clothing is made of nanites." Pla'va tugged at Parthney's waist band. "It seems tight and not very elastic. My ship has no control nanites for working pek clothing."
Parthney noted, "Now you're staring at me."
"I wonder how you'll get those pants off."
"I think I'll need a knife."
Pla'va pulled a drawer out from the wall. "This is a sewing kit. I suppose you've never used one." Pla'va took out a set of shears and cut Parthney's pants down each side to the hip.
Parthney commented, "Wow, I've never seen a Buld who was good with thons hands. You can use tools."
"Yes, most Buld think it is barbaric to use their hands. I suppose you still doubt that I'm Buld. You know, there might only be one way that I can prove to you that I'm Buld."
Parthney stood there holding up his cut pants. "Help me make some new pants that I can easily take off at night."
Pla'va explained how to get the clothing making machine to produce pants with a comfortable elastic top. "Some people use flaps like this." Thon showed how the hip seam of thons pants could be pulled open or sealed closed.
Parthney said, "Clever. I've never thought about clothing before."
"Some people on Oib spend vast amounts of time dressing up and...well, adorning and showing off their bodies. Of course, those who do such things are shunned and called ugly names."
"Some Buld on Hemmal ask a pek to adjust their clothing. Some even do things with their hair. Most people never bother."
"On Oib some people want to avoid the Change. Some try to...mark themselves as being ghoie."
"Ghoie?"
"The ghoie avoid having sex so that they will not Change."
"I see. Yandrey is that way....very old."
Parthney had often wondered why it was so important to Yandrey to not Change, yet most Buld on Hemmal seemed not to care. Many accepted the religious doctrine that going through the Change moved you closer to spiritual transcendence and unity with the Creators. Yandrey called the conventional religious view "mystical garbage". Parthney had asked what 'garbage' was and Yandrey had replied, "Something dead that stinks and has to be buried."
Parthney emerged from his revere and noticed that Pla'va was staring at him. He asked, 'What?"
Pla'va said, "Stop teasing me."
"I'm not teasing. I've heard that Yandrey is 15,000 years old."
"Yes. I read that Yandrey has lived almost that long on Hemmal and before that thon was one of the first settlers on Oib. But you are teasing me, standing there holding up your pants. I cut them so that you could take them off."
"I don't want to undress in front of you."
"Why not? Here, let me do it."
"Oh, no!" Parthney stepped away from Pla'va. "There were Buld on Hemmal that wanted to watch me eat and watch me undress."
"I watched you when you were asleep. Do you think it is perverse that Buld can be curious about a male's body?"
"In my experience it goes beyond curiosity and does become a...perverse obsession."
"I'm a freak, but I'm not perverse. I'd explain, but you already think I'm perverted."
"I didn't say that, and I don't think it. Just behave yourself." Parthney quickly changed his pants.
When he was done he looked at Pla'va and saw thon was blushing. "Wow. Thank you. But you were too quick. I'm not sure what I saw. You're so hairy. It's not fair, I couldn't really see, not like in the anatomy texts."
Parthney asked, "Anatomy texts?"
"There are books that show the human body...and explain how it works."
"You are bad. That's the way it starts...on Hemmal there were some Buld who would say, 'just let me look', but then that's never enough. Nothing I did could ever be enough and then it always became a frustrating and angry scene of disappointment."
"Well, I'm not like other Buld."
"What makes you so special?"
"You wouldn't understand. If I try to explain then you won't believe it and you'll call me a freak and stop talking to me."
"I doubt if you can shock me."
Pla'va eagerly suggested, "Let's bet. Want to bet?"
Parthney asked, "Bet?"
"A wager. If I shock you then you have to pay me."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you and I agreeing on a deal. I'll tell you the shocking truth about what makes me special and then you'll have to pay up."
"What do you mean 'pay'?"
"You'll pay my price."
"I see. And what is your price? Gold, diamonds, silky riches?" Parthney wondered if Pla'va knew that line from the poem Crystal Lake.
Pla'va laughed. "I'm not interested in those things, although I do like silk clothing. I told you what I want. I'm curious about your body and I want the chance to...get a better look at it."
Parthney shook his head. "I don't want to go down that sorry path with you. I've done it for other Buld and, believe me, it never ends well."
"Believe me, I am different, so you have to let me try. Think of it as an experiment."
"Experamint?"
"An experiment. You carefully arrange a test so that you can figure out how something works."
"Ah, you want to experiment with me."
"Yes. Why not? You only experiment with bothets?"
"Look, I'm not proud of the way I've used bothets, but that's what they are for. I don't want to treat you like a bothet."
"Why not?" Pla'va held thons arms arms out and turned in a circle. "I'm not fat enough for you?"
"I just don't want to use you."
"Even if I ask you to?"
"It won't work. I've tried to make it work. Can't you accept that?"
"No, I can't. Look, you just don't know what you are dealing with here and you need to accept the fact that all your other experiments are not relevant to me."
"I will admit that I'm curious. I've never known anyone like you."
"So there we are. I'm curious about you and you're curious about me. That's the foundation for a good deal: we will both get what we want."
"But you won't, that's what I'm telling you. You'll just get mad at me and then we'll still have a week of angry silence together on the way to Oib. We'd be better off if you just help me learn to read."
Pla'va laughed. "Why do you think I'll get angry?"
"Okay, if you are right and you are different...are you telling me that you're biologically different than other Buld?"
"Now you're cheating and trying to get your part of the bargain without agreeing to pay up."
"You know, it's exhausting talking to you. And I'm hungry. Let me eat and think about spending a week trapped in a spaceship with an angry freak."
"Don't call me that."
"But you said..."
"I can call myself that, but you can't."
Parthney threw up his arms and went to the galley. Parthney ate in silence and Pla'va sat across the small table watching. Finally Pla'va asked, "Can you belch?"
"What?"
"It's in all the Earth Quests...the humans eat and belch like thunder."
Parthney laughed. "See, that's what's wrong with your proposed deal. Buld think it's disgusting to eat and belch, but you are fascinated by it just the same. Eating is taboo, but some Buld are obsessed with eating..it excites them. That's perverse."
"No it isn't. Thunder is loud and scary, but I'd someday like to hear it."
"You've never been on Hemmal?"
"They say it is dangerous."
"Dangerous?"
"For me."
"What do you mean? Millions of people live on Hemmal."
"You're cheating again. It is dangerous for me because I'm special."
"Oh, come on! Now you're not going to talk to me any more unless I agree to this silly deal."
"That's not true, but it is a good idea. If I was mean I'd lock you in your cabin and fly around the galaxy until you paid my price."
Parthney laughed. "You're not mean. You're sweet and innocent."
"So are you. And I like sweets."
"What does that mean?"
"It means I like you. I wouldn't mind keeping you here. Just think! We could go everywhere together. Would you like to see the rings of the gas giants? They are even prettier than Hemmal. With time I'd even stop worrying that you'll step on me."
"Step on you? I'm not that clumsy."
"Step on me or...worse. Look at all the muscle in your arm!"
Parthney said, "Oh, no."
"What?"
"Oh, nothing."
"I won't really make you my slave."
"I know. I just realized how you're going to make me pay your price."
"Hm...I'm intrigued. I'm sitting here trying to figure that out and getting frustrated. You must be smarter than me if you already know how I can do it."
"Well, if you spend your time on this spaceship by yourself then you have not had as many opportunities as I have to learn how to manipulate people."
"You are a barbarian." Pla'va was blushing again.
"I'm human. Did I say something that offends you?"
"On Oib people are disgusted by the idea of manipulation. Manipulation of people is the worst."
"In the temples on Hemmal they teach that you are supposed to be kind and love everyone."
"Love." Pla'va gazed over Parthney's shoulder as if seeing something in the distance. "That's where the perversity comes in. The ghoie avoid the Change by...manipulating each other...or themselves."
Parthney laughed. "I see. You're talking about masturbation. On Hemmal, between the midnight temple ceremonies and the bothets there is not much demand for masturbation. And I've been told that it doesn't work for Buld."
"What do you mean?"
"That its like tickling yourself. Buld can't get pleasure from touching themselves."
"That's what they say."
"You don't know? Do you mean you've never tried?"
"I mean that's why the ghoie manipulate each other. They get pleasure, but they avoid the risk of going through the Change."
"Well, that's just making love. If two people share pleasure then that's a good thing, right?"
"Absolutely. I'm glad you see it my way. So now you agree to our deal?"
Parthney laughed. "See, that's where you're wrong. I was talking about two Buld giving each other pleasure. You're a Buld. I'm a man. We're not compatible."
"How do you know? I'm special. I'm telling you that you're wrong. What makes you so sure that you're right?"
"I'm not sure, that's why I'm curious. Do you want me to guess? Okay, I guess that you are pek, in disguise."
"What if I were pek? Would that explain why I'm out here flying this spaceship? Why would a pek want to see a naked man? If a pek disguised itself as a Buld why would it disguise itself as a freakish Buld?"
Parthney said, "That's interesting. On Hemmal people don't call pek 'it'. They say 'thon'."
"On Oib people fear the pek and so a pek is an 'it'. Buld or meonuck are 'thon'."
Parthney cleared the table. "You said you'd show me your ship today."
"I'd like to. Come with me." Pla'va took hold of Parthney's hand and started a tour of the spaceship. Parthney quickly became disoriented and baffled by the complexity of all the compartments and devices. On a lower deck where the gravity was very weak Pla'va said, "I love to run down here. It's almost like flying." Pla'va opened a hatch and led Parthney into a humid chamber. "This is my pool. Sometimes I come down here and just swim...all day." Thon turned down the lights and let the wall displays show images of the stars. "It's like swimming through space."
"The stars are so bright. I feel like I could touch them."
"I like this view. The stars are magnified."
"Magnified?" Pla'va led Parthney by the hand and they slowly walked around the large pool while thon explained what a telescope was.
"So that's what it means. In the poem Harmoni Mundi they sing, "The beauty of Venus, celebrated by telescope."
"Ah, yes, Venus; one of the mythical bothet figures."
"Yandrey told me that Venus is Earth's sister planet."
"Sister planet? Do you have to even make planets male and female?"
"Well, the Song of Life does so. Mars is male. Venus is female. They even say 'mother Earth'."
"And father time and uncle monkey. It's all fun and fantasy, rhyme with no reason." They were back near the doorway and stopped walking. Pla'va said, "Here in the starlight you could pretend that I'm a woman. You wouldn't mind taking off your clothes in front of a woman, would you?"
"Well, I'm having a problem with the very idea of taking off clothing. I associate that with the midnight temple ceremony on Hemmal. The ceremony is a contrived effort to formalize the biological reproductive process, to turn it into a religious ritual. A public display. Yandrey told me that bothets dose the Buld with chemicals to get them aroused and receptive. They call it an orgy. I've never been comfortable with that. If I were with a woman I'd want it to be private and personal."
Pla'va stepped directly in front of Parthney and held both of his hands. "This ship is very private. There's nobody here but you and I."
"That's not how I feel." Parthney looked up at the stars. "The whole universe is looking down on us. And even if I close my eyes I can't forget that you are not a woman."
"I see your problem. They say that the ghoie adorn themselves, like bothets, so that they can forget who they are and what they are doing. If I adorned myself like a woman could you pretend that I was a woman?"
"What do you mean?"
"They say that the ghoie dress up, make themselves..fat...like a bothet."
Parthney laughed. "I don't think that would work, unless you were a pek. The pek can truly take the form of a woman. If you tried to fake it I'd notice the difference and feel foolish."
"Too bad. Well, here's another idea. We split our deal into two parts. Part one is like practice. A game."
"What kind of game?"
"I bet you that I can trick you into thinking that I'm a woman. You try to prove me wrong."
"It won't work. As soon as I touch you you I'll know that you are Buld. And your odd way of talking makes you seem alien."
"No touching, that would be cheating. No touching is allowed."
"Only looking?"
"Right. For example...watch..." Pla'va let go of Parthney's hands and walked a short distance down along the side of the pool. "Tell me what you see."
In the star light Parthney could see Pla'va standing in profile. "You look like a shadow. I can see the shadow of your hair. I like the way it flares out around you neck. Do you..adorn yourself?"
"I do put some thought into making my clothing...mainly I play with the textures. My hair naturally has a little wave so I leave it long. You know, hair is dead. Dead cells."
"So I've been told. Yandrey is bald. Thon told me that old people go bald...loose their hair. Yandrey wears a wig...artificial hair."
"Some old people do go bald...that's what they say. It seems strange that the medical nanites can't fix that...but don't distract me. What do you see besides my hair?"
"I can also see your cute nose and your chin. Now you're pouting your lips out. That was your tongue."
Pla'va laughed. "Stop teasing. Get to the interesting part, below the neck."
"Well, I must say, your body is that of a boy. There's really nothing there to jiggle."
Pla'va pushed her bottom out. "How's that?"
"Boyish."
Pla'va straightened up. "I've still got this elastic band on." Pla'va pulled the band off from over thons shirt then took off the shirt. "Watch." Pla'va jumped up and down."
Parthney said, "Okay, I agree, you jiggle. Just barely. And I'll admit, at this angle you don't look like a boy. You're very lovely there against the stars."
"You are sweet to say that, but if you really liked what you see then you'd agree to my deal."
"I do like what I see and I like you. That does not mean I want to risk ruining our friendship by indulging your..."
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You were going to say something mean, but you stopped. That's good behavior. Fine. So, here's the deal for part one. No touching and just starlight. We get in the pool. When you see me swimming you'll have to think of me like a woman and I bet I can get you aroused. You can try to prove me wrong. Deal?"
Parthney was amused, but a bit alarmed. He already felt moderately aroused. "I knew it would come to this. The silliest thing I've seen is Buld pretending to be bothets. I've known a few Buld who were fascinated by the idea of a male. They knew that they could act like a bothet and get me aroused. Then I learned that if I play that game it never ends well." He reached down and felt the water. "I don't think you know what cold water can do to a man."
"The pool is not cold."
"Cold enough to give me an advantage in this game."
"Hmm...my research into male physiology may have important gaps." Pla'va took hold of Parthney's hand again and thon led him to a warm bath that was set off to the side of the pool. The bath was not much different from those in the temples of Hemmal. Pla'va took off her pants and jumped into the bath water. "Come on in." Pla'va eased back and floated on the surface.
Parthney watched Pla'va floating by, sleek and, like all Buld, unadorned with external genitalia. Parthney shrugged and undressed and joined Pla'va in the bath. The water was close to body temperature. Pla'va went under the surface and moved up close to Parthney. After a long time, thon surfaced. "Interesting."
"You can't see much in this light."
"That's an interesting biological hypothesis. However, the Buld Clan was designed to be the spacefaring Preland clan and so we have excellent vision in low light. Okay, that's one lesson learned for me, one for you. Cold water is not arousing and I can see by starlight."
"Lesson two: the joy of low gravity and salt water." Pla'va again floated on thons back in the salty water which made thon quite buoyant. Parthney was impressed by the transformation: in the water Pla'va did not look like a boy. The starlight and shadows on Pla'va's shiny wet skin were entrancing. "Well? Cat got your tongue?" Parthney was becoming aroused. He tried closing his eyes. "That's cheating. Keep your eyes open." Pla'va again dove under the surface briefly then surfaced. "Wow. Very nice. I think I'm winning."
Parthney laughed, "I surrender. I'm not fully aroused, but I can't hide the truth...I'm a young male, I can't prevent myself from responding to the sight of a pretty girl."
"Now part two of the deal. I'll tell you what is special about the Pla and then you'll pay up."
"The Pla?"
"There are only about fifty of us left. 20,000 years ago there were thousands of Pla."
"What are you talking about, are the Pla another Preland clan?"
"No, we Pla are Buld. A freakish type of Buld." Pla'va again floated on thons back in the water. "Do you agree to the deal?"
Parthney was now intrigued and there was no backing out. How could there be a whole tribe of Buld, the Pla, that he'd never heard of? He thought about what Muchlo had said about how the pek could make people forget, erase memories. "Oh, alright! I agree. Tell me what it means to be Pla."
"I've been trying to do just that, but you are so difficult." For a long minute Pla'va floated in silence then began thons story. "It started more than 20,000 years ago, a time hidden in legends, before any Buld could write down history. The Buld Clan endlessly flew spaceships from world to world, linking all the Preland worlds together for study by the lisden. Their goal was to deduce facts about Earth from all the Preland Songs of Life in every language."
"Every language?"
"Each world has a different Preland clan."
"Right, that's what they say."
"And each world has its own language. Even different letters."
"I see."
"Then the Fru'wu arrived."
"The aliens."
"Yes. The prehistorical legends say that the Fru'wu told some of the lisden where Earth's star system is located...at a position far out from the galactic core, far out in the galaxy where no Buld ship has ever been. After tens of thousands of years of wasted effort, what the lisden wanted most desperately to know was suddenly revealed, and the information was useless! It would take thousands and thousands of years for a Buld spaceship to reach Earth. They felt foolish for having assumed that Earth was nearby, in the core. And when the lisden finally knew where to look for Earth they tried to go there, but the Buld did not really control their spaceships."
Parthney asked, "What do you mean?"
"The lisden still argue about that, but the Buld had been given spaceships for a reason and that reason had nothing to do with going off to find Earth. The pek control everything. Attempts were made to send Buld ships to Earth, but they failed, they all failed. The Creators did not want the Buld to visit Earth. The spaceships would only travel between Preland worlds of the galactic core."
"They knew where Earth was, but they could not go there?"
Pla'va shrugged. "Yes." Thons dark hair radiated out from thons head, dancing and rippling with starshine. "You don't believe it?"
"I'm just surprised to hear that the location of Earth is known, but it can't be reached. I'd like to go to Earth. If the pek control everything then why reveal the location of Earth...just to tease the Buld?"
Pla'va asked, "When have the Creators ever explained themselves? However, the lisden did not accept defeat. The lisden set about the seemingly impossible task of reaching Earth. It was not easy."
"First, they liberated themselves from the pek and their nanites. Eventually that meant even giving up the meonuck. With the help of the Fru'wu some of the lisden learned how to prevent pek nanites from colonizing Buld brains. Thus were born the Pla. They learned to read and write and struggled to understand the technology of the spaceships. But progress was slow. There was always the risk that the Pla would be re-infected by pek nanites. A way was found to immunize the Pla against re-infection. But that liberation from the nanites came at a high cost."
Parthney said, "I've heard all sorts of crazy stories about Earth. The Buld have spent tens of thousands of years dreaming up stories about Earth. What makes you think this story of Earth is real?"
"I am Pla. I've read the Pla history that goes right back to the invention of writing."
Parthney asked, "What was this immunization against nanites?"
"Do you know what happens when Buld go through the Change?"
"Yandrey told me. When an embryo forms inside a Buld it breaks out of the womb and spreads into the mother's body."
"Yes. And within a few weeks all of the cells of the old body are replaced by the cells of the new Buld."
"Unless the embryo is false."
"A false Buld like you lacks the means to cause the Change. Humans like you and Kach have to be gestated and birthed and then grow up as children. Sometimes, also very rarely, a true Buld is birthed...that is how the population of Oib slowly grows. We also get immigrants, a few Buld who come up the elevators from Hemmal. And once in a while an interstellar ship arrives. However, through time, mostly we lose population to the stars. Unlike the Buld, the Pla population can only shrink."
Parthney guessed, "The Pla are different? Biologically?"
Pla'va still floated on the water in front of Parthney. "You have eyes. Am I different?"
"You are very tall and you seem to have somewhat more body fat than other Buld."
"How old do you think I am?"
"I don't know."
"Guess."
"Well, you seem young....playful and innocent, like you recently went through the Change."
"I'm almost 20,000 years old."
Parthney was surprised. "What?" Somehow, Yandrey seemed wise enough to be ancient, but Pla'va seemed wild and undisciplined and recently Changed. "If that were true then you should have remembered Yandrey."
"No, we Pla have a problem with memory, that's why we need our written records of the past. According to the ancient history I knew Yandrey 15,000 years ago, but I have no memory of that."
"So, this is why you talk about ghoie. You avoid sex so that you don't go through the Change."
"No. I can't avoid sex. Pla need sex to survive. We must use our reproductive systems in order to survive."
Parthney felt a creeping horror. He guessed again, "Don't tell me you need to have sex with...a human."
"Pla'va laughed. "That's funny! I should have told you that, but I didn't think of it. But, no. Humans and Buld are essentially different species. A human like you and a Pla like me could never produce an embryo. We Buld have an extra chromosome."
"Chromosome?"
"Yandrey never told you this?"
"Maybe he did. He told me many things that I did not understand...or believe."
"Well, this is really beside the point and I'd have to consult some books in order to explain it correctly. I read a lot but I'm no scholar, I have no training in biology."
Parthney asked, "As a Buld, how do you have sex and reproduce yet live for thousands of years?"
"I'll tell you. This is our deal...let me tell you why I'm special." Pla'va seemed to order thons thoughts then continued. "They call it auto-fertilization"
"What's that?"
"When two germ cells come together to make an embryo...that's called fertilization. Then the embryo starts to grow. Normally one germ cell comes from each parent. For auto-fertilization there is only one parent."
Parthney said, "That's dis..."
Pla'va nodded, "I knew you'd feel that way."
"Well, now wait. You surprised me. Are you saying that...I don't see how it's possible. Yandrey told me that the Buld gonads are like human ovaries."
"Yes, but only one connects to the uterus. The other sprouts a tube that connects to the Buld version of a prostate gland."
"Yandrey told me that the two Buld ovaries are on different cycles, controlled by hormones. First one ovary releases an egg then half way through the hormone cycle, weeks later, the other ovary releases a few dozen germ cells that get swept along to the prostate."
"That's right. That's why the...look... of a Buld changes from week to week. To achieve fertilization two Buld must have intercourse at the right time, when one has the waiting egg and the partner is at the right part of the hormone cycle and can excrete some germ cells."
"So auto-fertilization is impossible."
"Wrong. The Pla learned that is possible to collect the released germ cells from a Buld and store them until an egg is released. Now we get the cells out surgically."
"Store them?"
"We freeze them. I showed you my storage locker."
"You said that was where you keep tea leaves."
"And other precious biologicals. Growing tea plants has become popular in some of the Oib cities. Keeping a thermal locker for storing tea gives the Pla cover. We need our lockers to store our germ cells."
"You have your own germ cells stored away? You could..."
"I will. I must. I have done it hundreds of times."
Parthney was stunned. "I see."
Pla'va continued, "Why do we do it? For freedom. The Pla were liberated from the pek by the Fru'wu."
"Liberated? How?"
"The pek enslave us by putting their nanites into our brains. We Pla fight for freedom."
Parthney thought about how Muchlo had talked about the pek reading his thoughts and having the power to erase his memories. Pla'va explained, "When Buld go through the Change, the growing cells of the embryo destroy all of the parent's brain cells. The newly forming brain cells are infected by the pek nanites. That happens early and the nanites alter how a Buld brain forms and functions. The Fru'wu provided the Pla with a way to prevent brain cells from being infected. Having a brain without pek nanites is what created the Pla. With our brains freed of pek nanites we could read, write, make and use tools."
"I see."
"Do you? Do you understand how different that makes we Pla? But that was only the beginning. Thousands of Pla were made. I was one of them. 20,000 years ago. But it was not a final victory over the pek. When the Pla started going through the Change they were re-infected by pek nanites. Most of the Pla were destroyed before a permanent solution was found."
"Ghoie."
"That was not a solution, but it bought us enough time to find the auto-fertilization trick. We could delay going through the Change, but without pek nanites in our brains the Pla brain ages and decays. Pek nanites make slaves out of the Buld but they also repair damaged bodies and can give Buld immortality."
Parthney asked, "Why were the Pla reinfected with nanites when they went through the Change? I thought the Fru'wu had provided a way to prevent the infection of Buld brains by pek nanites."
"Yes. That trick involved fooling the pek nanites. The Fru'wu taught the Pla how to make their own nanites...nanites that could reprogram pek nanites. And that surprised the pek. At first. Only for a while. All too soon the pek realized that the Pla were making their own nanites and so the pek put a stop to that. Everyone involved was frightfully punished. All the Fru'wu who were helping the Pla were exterminated. Without help from the Fru'wu the Pla could make no more nanites."
"Exterminated?"
"The pek were brutal. We Pla lost contact with the Fru'wu for 5,000 years. When more Fru'wu finally contacted us again they did not even have a surviving record of their species having worked with us before. When our original Fru'wu allies were exterminated we Pla were left on our own to struggle for continued freedom from the pek. It seemed hopeless, but we finally figured out that auto-fertilization results in only a partial Change."
"Partial Change? What does that mean?"
"Normally the cells of a Buld embryo can efficiently recognize, attack and replace all the parent's cells. There is a different set of identity markers on the parental cells. Different genes, different markers. Do you understand?"
Parthney shrugged. "Not really. Yandrey tried to tell me about chromosomes and genes. I did not really believe what he told me."
Pla'va explained, "Genes are the instructions carried on chromosomes inside germ cells. Genes have instructions that allow cells to make protein molecules. Different individuals have unique genes and their own protein patterns. That allows the cells of an embryo to seek out and destroy the cells of the mother and achieve the Change."
Parthney nodded uncertainly, "Yes. that is what Yandrey told me."
Pla'va continued, "That does not happen with auto-fertilization. There are only minor differences between the new embryo and the parent, a subtle difference that exists because old cells often have a few different protein markers. So after auto-fertilization the embryonic cells just replace the most aged cells in the parent's body. The result is a kind of rejuvenation of the parent, not a complete change of cells."
"So that's what it means in the Song of Life...that's the fountain of youth."
Pla'va laughed. "It is what allows us to survive for thousands of years. However, there are insidious side effects. By not replacing most of the brain cells during a partial Change we Pla can keep a population of the protective Fru'wu nanites in our brains and prevent pek nanites from re-infecting us. That was what we wanted, but there were other consequences as well. With time, when repeatedly going through partial Change our bodies slowly alter. Our body cells can occasionally lose the extra Buld chromosome that makes us different from humans. Slowly human cells accumulate in our bodies."
"Oh! So, that's why you are so large."
"And fat. You see, I'm so old that many cells in my body are human cells. Phenotypically I'm part human."
Parthney now understood why he could see a difference between Pla'va and other Buld, why Pla'va reminded him of bothets. "Well, I now understand your fascination with humans. Thank you for explaining."
"You don't think I'm a pervert?"
"No. Since you are partly human I understand why you are interested in humans, and me in particular."
"Good. There are details of the auto-fertilization process that might cause you to change your mind."
"Like what?"
"The pek have played many nasty tricks on the Buld. It turns out, the Buld are just as dependent on pek for their survival as are other Preland clans."
"In what way?"
"The Prelands have totally lost their reproductive capacity. The pek collect cells from Prelands and synthetically manufacture new Prelands. Prelands by themselves cannot reproduce. The pek do everything; artificially gestated embryos, the Preland children are raised by pek."
Parthney nodded. "At least the Buld have sex and fertilize each other."
"But not without help. That was a great Pla discovery. Eventually we Pla discovered another way to rid our brains of pek nanites that did not involve having the Fru'wu provide us with the technological means to make our own nanites. There is a way to simply inactivate all nanites in a person's body by using a powerful magnetic field. However, the Buld who are so treated cannot reproduce."
"Why not?"
"We've never really figured it out. It seems clear that the pek want to completely control Preland reproduction...they don't want stray Buld running around the galaxy reproducing. All we can say for sure is that we know some of the ways that the pek involve themselves in Buld reproduction. For example, why do you think the Buld on Oib are surrounded by their meonuck? One reason is that the meonuck are a source of the nanites that infect Buld brains and keep us enslaved. They also provide feeding nanites and medical nanites. But it is also true that the meonuck provide chemical signals that make possible Buld reproductive biology."
"Yandrey told me that bothets use chemicals in the midnight temple ceremonies."
Pla'va explained. "In order for Buld to successfully mate and reproduce a complex chemical process must be played out. Buld are unable to perform sexually unless they are exposed to a set of chemicals...pheromones. We know that the meonuck are able to produce those chemicals, but we've never been able to synthesize them for ourselves. After Buld are exposed to the pheromones and their bodies are stimulated by those chemicals and put into a reproductively receptive state, normal sexual function requires further chemical exchanges between the sex partners. All the chemicals together make a positive feedback control system that is required for Buld reproduction."
"I think Yandrey tried to explain this to me, too, but I still don't really understand. You say you have to keep doing these auto-fertilizations. Why? You said a magnetic field can destroy pek nanites."
"Pla are the only liberated Buld who can move freely out where pek nanites swarm. But without pek nanites inside our brains we age rapidly, and we Pla still have mostly parental cells even right after a partial Change. I have to auto-fertilize every thirty years in order to prevent my brain from degenerating. And there is a great temptation; there is always an easy way out. If we allow ourselves to be impregnated by another person then the Change simply erases another Pla from existence. Very few of us remain. We are so altered now that we are part human and only sexually compatible with each other. To survive we need only avoid each other. But it is a lonely life. The true Buld call us freaks."
Parthney took hold of Pla'va's hand. "You've lived alone for 20,000 years?"
"I'm not always alone. Often there are passengers, mostly Buld, but they can't help thinking of Pla as freaks. I always have Ka'po...that is some comfort."
"Yandrey told me that Buld always feel connected to each other."
Pla'va came and sat by the edge of the bath beside Parthney. "That is true, when Buld have pek nanites in their brains. The nanites allow for some kind of telepathic link between nearby people."
Parthney thought about the strange sensations he had felt when Kach was near, particularly when she was looking at him. Parthney asked, "Could that have been what I was feeling with Kach? A telepathic connection?"
"They say that humans have some nanites in their brains. Not nearly as many as the Buld, but, yes, your brain should have had a weak connection to Kach. You should be able to feel a difference between humans and Buld. Buld brains resonate with each other. They say human brains resonate with each other too, but not nearly as strongly."
"And you gave that...connection...up, in order to become Pla."
"Going through auto-fertilization and partial Change disrupts memory. I have no memory of what it was like to resonate with other Buld."
Parthney commented, "I was a fool. I missed my chance to really experience this...resonance...with Kach. I felt something, but I did not understand what was happening."
Pla'va said, "I don't understand why Kach pretended to be Buld. Nobody could have been fooled. Well, nobody but you."
"She did not want me to know that she was human. Just one day after we met I was in the elevator, heading off Hemmal."
"That seems like a strange coincidence...or did she already know that you were going to Oib?"
Parthney explained. "She simply came the the lodge where I performed with my megepi, with Muchlo pretending to be a transmitter."
Pla'va laughed. "Now I understand. So, that's what Kach was up to, visiting all those scholars. She was in training to become a transmitter. And a spy."
"A spy?"
"Transmitters slowly gain the trust of the Prelands. Eventually they are allowed to visit the Preland territories where they can collect information for the scholars."
"Immediately after my performance was transmitted to the Prelands I was evicted from Hemmal."
"I see. That's why Kach hid the fact that she is a woman. She wanted you to go to Oib. She was ordered to send you up to me. She dared not distract you with the fact that she's a woman."
"Ordered? By who? Muchlo?"
Pla'va laughed. "By a pek? Never. They say that the pek always try to keep humans on Hemmal."
"Well, that's true. Except for Muchlo."
"Well, you told me that Muchlo was taking orders from Kach. If so, then Muchlo was only doing what Kach wanted."
"Why would Kach send me to Oib?"
"I don't know, but I can guess. They need you on Oib. You were needed and Kach was there on Hemmal and could make it happen."
"Why would I be needed on Oib?"
"There can only be one reason. It's the reason why humans occasionally appear on worlds like Hemmal."
"The reason? Yandrey told me that the mutation that makes humans just happens by chance."
Pla'va laughed. "With pek involved, do you think anything happens by chance?"
"Why would pek...make... humans?"
"That is one of the great mysteries that has been argued about through thousands of years of Pla history. That's a fascinating topic, but it is far afield." Pla'va took hold of both Parthney's hands and faced him. "Now, I must remind you of our deal. I've told you why I'm special. It is time for you to pay."
"I still don't really understand what you expect from me."
Pla'va climbed out of the bath. "Let's go to the galley. I'm hungry." They dried off using large fuzzy towels and then dressed and went up to the galley. Along the way Pla'va explained, "I've locked Ka'po away. Without Ka'po I can't be fed in the usual Buld way."
"Why do that?"
"I find Ka to be distracting. Don't you?"
"I had a cat as a pet on Hemmal. I guess I'm used to having one around."
"Well, Ka can be pushy and possessive. I don't want Ka to get in our way. Anyhow, since I'm part human I have a larger stomach than most Buld, so I can get by without Ka."
In the galley Parthney and Pla'va sipped tea and nibbled on some small cookies and cakes. "I want to talk about our future, Parthney."
Parthney asked, "Our future?"
"We could have a future together."
"Pla'va, I'll only be here for a few more days. I've been hoping that you can tell me what to expect when I reach Oib."
"There are people there who are awaiting your arrival. They plan to send you to Earth."
"I'd like to see Earth."
"It is a terrible place, full of war and disease and death."
"Still, I feel that I belong on Earth. There are many people there like me."
Pla'va asked, "Do you have fantasies about a world with billions of women?"
"Well, yes, I have had such fantasies. I used to imagine that I had to go to Earth to find a woman."
"Before you go to Earth you must have the nanites stripped out of your body. You will start to age. At best, on Earth, you might live 80 years. You might get an infection and be dead in a week."
"A deadly infection?"
"Earth swarms with disease-causing organisms."
"Surely I would not be sent to Earth just to die so quickly."
"If you avoid the germs then you'll have to deal with the Overseers. Earth is constantly watched by Observers and policed by Overseers. If they find you they will capture you and take you off Earth."
"Yandrey tried to tell me about the Overseers. I still do not understand."
"Remember, I told you how the Fru'wu and the early Pla were punished by the pek? For you to visit Earth is a crime. If the Overseers catch you then you will be treated harshly."
"Yandrey told me that there is an important reason why humans are sent to Earth."
"Yes, there is. After thousands of years of trying, we Buld learned how to build our own spaceships. One was sent off to Earth. Soon it will arrive there. With that Buld ship on its way to Earth, for 10,000 years efforts were made to raise the Earthlings from their primitive prehistory towards a technological civilization that might be able to survive contact with the Buld. That has been accomplished. Very soon now the Buld will arrive at Earth, but the Earthlings are ready...they are even now developing their own space flight technology. There is no longer a need for you to go to Earth."
"It might be important to be there when the Buld arrive. Just imagine, a world full of humans who know nothing about Buld or the Pla...everything you have told me."
"Think about a better option. You can stay here with me."
"You've told me that you are part human." Parthney took hold of Pla'va's hand, "Exactly how human are you?"
"Don't you feel a connection to me when you touch me and when you look at me?"
"I do feel something, but not as strong as what I felt with Kach."
"Just as there are nanites that infect Buld brains there are other nanites that are adapted to human brains. I have enough human cells in my brain so that some human-specific nanites have accumulated in me. I can feel a nanite-mediated resonance with your brain."
"I can't believe that you are physically very human."
Pla'va went around and sat next to Parthney and put thons arms around him. "Let's find out."
Parthney tried to draw back. "I'm afraid that you'll be disappointed and angry."
"I'll be disappointed and angry if you don't pay your side of our deal." Parthney said no more. Pla'va took him to cabin 1 and put him in thons bed.
Much later Parthney woke up. Pla'va kissed his nose. "You sleep a lot."
Parthney yawned. "I tried to wear you out. I hope I did not hurt you."
Pla'va giggled. "Those weren't cries of pain. I told you that your fears were unfounded."
"You've done this...all...before, haven't you?"
"I've transported other men to Oib, but I don't remember. That was before my most recent partial Change. I do have records of those earlier...encounters. I've tried several times to convince a man to stay with me, but always they go off to Earth."
Pla'va was crying. Parthney brushed away the tears and kissed thons cheeks.
Parthney let his hand brush over Pla'va's body. "I'm still amazed that we are physically compatible. And I thought that Buld have both male and female genital organs."
"Parthney, I'm part human, maybe one fifth human cells. That's enough to make Pla sexually incompatible with true Buld. I've been surgically altered to make me more like a human female."
"What do you mean, surgically altered?"
Pla'va explained the process in some detail.
"I see. Then...you really did enjoy..."
"Of course I did. What we did together...that was wonderful. What I've always imagined it would be. I'd begun to fear that I'd have to auto-fertilize again before ever meeting a man. I'm so glad you are here." Pla'va held tightly to Parthney.
Parthney started to respond to her caresses. "Wait, Pla'va. Stop. This can't go on."
"I'm out of practice. I'll get better..."
"No, listen. Please listen. This is exhilarating...I think I understand what Muchlo tried to tell me...about what it could be like to have sex with meaning, but I have to tell you... I must go to Oib. I still want to go to Earth."
Pla'va's eyes were full of tears. "Don't try to decide now. We still have five more days...I will get better at this. Five days might not be enough for me to make you love me, but it will be enough for you to want to stay."
"It does not really take that long to reach Oib, does it?"
For a moment Pla'va was embarrassed to have been caught in a lie. "How did you know?"
"When I played with the navigation map I zoomed in on several Pla spaceships. All the others were going faster than we are."
Pla'va nodded. "I lied to you. This ship could get you to Oib today. I wanted enough time with you to make you realize that you can be happy here with me."
Parthney kissed Pla'va. "I am happy, in a way I've never felt before. It would be wonderful to stay with you and explore space with you. I know I would be happy."
"But you won't stay."
"No. I can't stay with you. I need to go to Earth."
"So, you will leave me here, trapped in this prison, the prison of space."
"I'm sorry, but I think there is a better way. You should be with one of the other Pla."
"No. That is the game that the other Pla play. I'm the only Pla left who remembers why we were created, the job that we still have to do." Pla'va got out of bed and went to the wall intercom, flipped some switches and gave a spoken command to the ship, "Shift to course B." Pla'va came back and got under the blanket and snuggled up in Parthney's embrace. "I won't even have time to teach you the alphabet."
Parthney asked, "Can't you come with me to Oib?"
"No. I can't go through the magnet treatment with you. I can never go where you are going."
Parthney brushed his lips against Pla'va's soft cheek. "I hate to think of you out here alone."
"I have Ka. And one day I'll figure out how to make a man fall in love with me."
Parthney said, "I feel heavy."
Parthney had his first close view of Oib from orbit and then they docked at the top of one of Oib's space elevators. Pla'va let Ka'po out of a locked room and the cat jumped into thons arms. Pla'va said, "Goodby, Parthney. On the other side of the lock you will be met by Port Master Thorklet."
Parthney kissed Pla'va goodby. "Thank you, Pla'va. The next time I see you I hope you have found someone who can stay here with you. You should not be alone."
"I'll be fine, really, I've lived out here for thousands of years. In a few years I'll have to go through another Change and I'll forget all about you. Good luck on Earth." Pla'va tried to keep smiling, but her eyes were brimming...she spun away and went to the control panel on the wall, activated the system that opened the door connecting to the space station.
Parthney took a step towards the door then stopped. He took three quick steps and put his arms around Pla'va. She put her arms around his neck and sobbed quietly into his chest. "I'll return if I can, but don't wait. Find a way to be happy." He kissed the top of her head then pulled away and went out from Pla'va's spaceship and into the space station.
As soon as Parthney was gone, Pla'va started walking back towards the control room. Once there, Pla'va activated the communications link to Lendhalen. "Parthney passed the test, just as you predicted."
Leymaygn was not surprised. "Yandrey's nanites will keep Parthney fixated on Earth, just as they have for every other Thomas clone."
Pla'va complained, "I still don't understand why Parthney must go to Earth. The Earthlings are ready for contact with the Buld. Why not let him stay here?"
Leymaygn laughed and asked, "Hey, are you finally getting tired of Ka'po?"
Pla'va turned and looked at Ka'po who had transformed and was back to the bodily form that Pla'va preferred: a rather fantastic man-cat hybrid. "Don't be silly. I'm perfectly happy with Ka'po."
Leymaygn nodded. "Good. Did you notice anything unusual about this Thomas clone?"
Pla'va shrugged, "Could he be stupider than usual? Apparently he met Kach on Hemmal and didn't realize that she's a woman. She must have used a great disguise."
Leymaygn explained, "Muchlo has had to carry out a significant amount of body sculpting on Kach and some synaptic modification of Parthney. But all is fine...I've been sick with worry over the possible consequences of Kach meeting Parthney."
Pla'va wondered, "How can their grandchildren be of so much importance for Earth?"
Leymaygn replied, "We'll have to wait and see."
______________________
Next: Lendhalen
Contents
Exode is copyright John Schmidt, but the text of the story is licensed for sharing under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) license.
No comments:
Post a Comment