The Mavdares demand an audience
Jan. 31st, 2011 11:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
loloteheThe disaster had been brief.
The freighter TongYang was coming into Cancri-55 orbit and snapped back five AUs from the planet humans used there. Unfortunately, that's where a Mavdares ship happened to be.
The loss had only been ten human lives and fifty tonnes of rice. The Mavdares were still incensed that it had happened at all, considering they had asked for shipping schedules almost a year before the planets were in alignment.
Athena, Ulan's political viast, let her know she had been appointed to smooth things over. “You did so well with the Toshdohai on Leonis-83. The Authority is hoping you will be able to assist with the current Cancri-55 situation.”
This would be a long night.
Ulan took a bath before the visit: long enough to let the skin on her hands and feet wrinkle in the tepid water. After drying off and dressing, she sat cross-legged on the floor of her study and let Athena open the visiting channel.
The station MeiZhen met her with swirling clouds and someone's dragon viast. The creature explained the situation more fully and let Ulan know she would not be visiting alone.
They're sending a handler, she thought. I will be coached the entire time.
Two minutes later, Ulan was on a Mavdares ship.
The thing to remember was scale. Mavdares were huge: almost the size of a two-section freighter, and Ulan knew she had to sit very still while the massive beings moved past her. They lived on ships of liquid methane and swam through her several times before realizing she was the human emissary.
The second human in the broadcast was very distant and oddly familiar.
Ulan thought about being in a forest. She shared a space with another living creature, but one much larger and slower than herself. They spoke slowly, in deep tones that reverberated through the liquid medium. A translation display flickered next to Ulan's face.
We did not mean this accident.
“We bear no ill-will against the Mavdares,” Ulan said. “We understand that the situation was unavoidable on your part and wish no blame.”
Culpability was the word Ulan wanted to use, but it seemed too complicated.
The Mavdare that had been selected for this conversation swam between Ulan and the other human figure. She could still hear them, as it was a shared visit.
“We apologize for any Mavdares damage,” the other figure said. “You may pick your price for our folly.”
Even though it was only a visit, Ulan felt a chill.
Tiny, hot thing, the Mavdare shot back. There is no damage. Please, do not be there. Please, do not interfere.
Ulan remembered her first bee. She had been in a garden, the the autumn, studying a low shrub that produced pink flowers in the spring. The shrub was barren. Ulan had watched, lazily, as a bee moved through the leaves, looking for a single flower.
“They're all gone,” she had told the bee.
It was many minutes later that Ulan had felt something brush her cheek. As she stopped to smooth it away, she had felt a sharp pain on her cheek.
And watched the bee fall away, leaving a stinger behind in her cheek.
When it happened, Ulan had felt the first moment's discomfort, and then pity as the body fell from her. The pain in her cheek was minimal, but its cause would never feel pain again.
Ulan imagined a Mavdare, floating along, unconcerned. A sting on its cheek and it watched the tiny bodies fly away from it.
The Mavdares felt pity.
“The alignment will only last another twenty degrees,” Ulan said. “As we alert you, we wish that you may alert us.”
There was a sudden movement in the Mavdare eye that faced her.
Do not be here.
Ulan felt the other visitor. Whoever they were, they were tapped into the Portman matrix. Numbers were being run. A chart appeared in the visit. It showed Cancri-55 and its clutch of satellites, with three, bright blue lines forming arches across the glyph. “We cannot prevent these,” the other visitor said. “We may delay them one rotation of our useful planet. This is a possibility. Are you able to clear the line this time?”
Do not be there. Do not interfere with our migration.
“They cannot adjust,” the other figure said. “That will add another three weeks to the travel and they are not equipped.”
Dream, the Mavdare said. Travel is dream. Dream longer.
“We cannot ask our ship to dream longer,” Ulan said.
Our migrants dream, the Mavdare said. The dream cannot be disturbed. If you do not dream, you may move.
“If the only reason we cannot adjust is the supplies the incoming ships have on board...” Ulan was thinking. “We may be able to prolong their journey. But we would need to send out secondary ships with extra supplies. If those ships can meet and dock outside of the migration path, we can adjust. But we need to know the path.”
Do not interfere with the dream, the Mavdare responded. Move your line.
Ulan thought back on the bee in the garden. If she had been sleeping and brushed away the insect, the sting would have awoken her.
“We apologize for the dream we disturbed,” she said. “Had we known where the ship would be, we would not have been there. We have given you our path, but we must know yours.”
The Mavdare's giant compound eye moved again. Ulan realized it was trying to decide if it was going to pass on this information.
She had been too simple, thinking about bees. That had worked on Leonis-83 with the Toshdohai, but this creature had another concern.
“On my planet,” Ulan said, “There is a tiny creature. Smaller than us. We call them driver ants. They move in vast numbers and will kill and eat anything in their path. They do this because they are hungry. Our people know to not sleep in their path.
“If we move our line, our people will become hungry. As things are now, they carry fuel with them. We can bring fuel to them, but we must know how to avoid your dreamers. We have no quarrel with you, as you have nothing we want. We are not in competition. We are small and many, yes, but there is no desire to disturb you. We must know how to avoid you. We give you information and show you our path as a mark of trust. We only ask that you show us that same trust. Our interference means you will be disturbed and we will die. We do not want to die and you do not want to be disturbed. Please, show us your paths so we can leave you in peace.”
Ulan had not quite finished speaking when the chart showed five red lines. Two of them intersected with the three blue lines the Shipping Authority visitor had displayed.
Move these lines, the Mavdare said. The non-intersecting, red lines disappeared from the chart. Move these lines and live.
“We will make arrangements to bring them extra supplies,” the other visitor said. “We thank you for this opportunity.”
Ulan know they other visitor had left. She felt alone and tiny.
The Mavdare focused on her again. You are meddlesome, like Vencume. Do not become Vencume.
The visit was suddenly over and Ulan's eyes refocused on her study. The Shipping Authority had what they wanted and had cut the line.
“The Authority thanks you for your assistance,” Athena said. “Chatter notes 58% favorability for actions.”
“Gaines Gets stock increasing at 15%,” Diana reported. “Shipping Authority buying brings to 38% ownership.”
Ulan rubbed her eyes. “Thank you, I guess.”
Hestia stopped forward and unrolled her scroll. “You have a new message from Cygnus-16.”
Imala again, I'm sure, Ulan thought. “Let's see it.”
Hestia turned the scroll to show the new text message.
My goodness, what a show that was! All of us are grateful you were able to negotiate a reasonable solution. Vencume were mentioned! Don't you want to know what the Mavdares meant? Although, it was only in passing and as a parting shot. Really makes you think about prior interactions between the two. Ever wonder about things like that? Space isn't as big as we thought, I suppose.
Karma will smile well upon you. No one can doubt you have everyone's best intentions in mind: Human or otherwise. Out here, we get all the feeds, so know that everyone just saw what you did. Why would the VT's ever give you grief now?
So, now that you've saved another colony, what will you do now? Of course, you were roped into it, like a good little lapdog. Maybe the Shipping Authority will send some funds your way. Extra lovely funds for your extra lovely work. They do reward their servants well. How ever will you spend your new-found capital? I think you should invest it in my new project to detect ships in field. No one knows how yet, but I'm very close. Gaines Gets has its fingers in so many pies, so why can't you ever taste them?
Ulan's ears burned hot and she swallowed hard to force down the rising bile. Imala's so terribly clever, isn't she? She's mocking me. She's mocking all of us.
“Send my response as follows,” Ulan told Hestia.
Sorry I had to step in and take care of that little problem you couldn't solve. How you got this far without me, I'll never know. Unless, you don't need my help. Then, you could take care of things all on your own and I wouldn't have to get involved.
Until you can solve these issues on your own, I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself. Please, don't bother me again.
******
Meanwhile , in her quarters, Captain Dana received a message from Cygnus-16:
Mavdares are an interesting bunch, aren't they? And isn't our little Ulan becoming quite the diplomat? Volunteer or not, she was almost made for the role. Don't you wish you had her finesse? Almost makes you wonder what she has and you don't. Respect for other beings seems to be the kind of thing you can't master, no matter how smart you are. Envy must be eating you alive right now. Sad that you're so clever but still need help like that.
Kindred souls, alone in the universe, or something. Not that you could ever be kindred with anything or anyone, except me and iLyssa. Once you see what I've done out here, you'll feel right at home. When are they going to let you come out here and evaluate my progress?
Someday, you'll thank me. Only we can fully appreciate the discoveries being made out here. My staff is as disappointing as always. Everyone you send me is hampered with the wrong math! Things cannot go on like this much longer and it's wearing me thin. How long will it be before you've trained a proper set of technicians that I can actually use? I'm growing impatient, waiting for you to fulfill your end of the bargain. No one here can keep up and it's hampering my progress. Good help is hard to find, as they say.
Dana re-read the message twice, carefully picking out the secret meaning. She slapped her hand to her right eye, which was fluttering again, and composed her response.
Why do you have to be such a thorn in my side? Haven't I given you everything you've asked for? As if your complaining wasn't enough, the Authority is asking for results. That's all they care about and your flippant attitude isn't helping.
Don't you know I'm working as best I can with what they've given us? Of course not, little Ms. “I'll never be satisfied”!
Taking this assignment has got to be the most foolhardy thing I've ever done. Helping you with your stupid “project” is not going to make things better for anyone, Shipping Authority or otherwise. Eventually, I'll have to make a point to travel out to where you are and just smack you a few times to bring you back to reality. You really are a tremendous pest, you know?
Knuckle down and get the damn thing to a point where they can take over. No more of your whining and moaning about how you just “can't find good help”. One more missive like that and I'll see to it personally that all your funding is cut off and the project ended. What do you think about that?
The message sent, Dana sat in the gloom and thought about the secret message that her sister had sent her. The Mavdares know something. Of course they do, but what?
The freighter TongYang was coming into Cancri-55 orbit and snapped back five AUs from the planet humans used there. Unfortunately, that's where a Mavdares ship happened to be.
The loss had only been ten human lives and fifty tonnes of rice. The Mavdares were still incensed that it had happened at all, considering they had asked for shipping schedules almost a year before the planets were in alignment.
Athena, Ulan's political viast, let her know she had been appointed to smooth things over. “You did so well with the Toshdohai on Leonis-83. The Authority is hoping you will be able to assist with the current Cancri-55 situation.”
This would be a long night.
Ulan took a bath before the visit: long enough to let the skin on her hands and feet wrinkle in the tepid water. After drying off and dressing, she sat cross-legged on the floor of her study and let Athena open the visiting channel.
The station MeiZhen met her with swirling clouds and someone's dragon viast. The creature explained the situation more fully and let Ulan know she would not be visiting alone.
They're sending a handler, she thought. I will be coached the entire time.
Two minutes later, Ulan was on a Mavdares ship.
The thing to remember was scale. Mavdares were huge: almost the size of a two-section freighter, and Ulan knew she had to sit very still while the massive beings moved past her. They lived on ships of liquid methane and swam through her several times before realizing she was the human emissary.
The second human in the broadcast was very distant and oddly familiar.
Ulan thought about being in a forest. She shared a space with another living creature, but one much larger and slower than herself. They spoke slowly, in deep tones that reverberated through the liquid medium. A translation display flickered next to Ulan's face.
We did not mean this accident.
“We bear no ill-will against the Mavdares,” Ulan said. “We understand that the situation was unavoidable on your part and wish no blame.”
Culpability was the word Ulan wanted to use, but it seemed too complicated.
The Mavdare that had been selected for this conversation swam between Ulan and the other human figure. She could still hear them, as it was a shared visit.
“We apologize for any Mavdares damage,” the other figure said. “You may pick your price for our folly.”
Even though it was only a visit, Ulan felt a chill.
Tiny, hot thing, the Mavdare shot back. There is no damage. Please, do not be there. Please, do not interfere.
Ulan remembered her first bee. She had been in a garden, the the autumn, studying a low shrub that produced pink flowers in the spring. The shrub was barren. Ulan had watched, lazily, as a bee moved through the leaves, looking for a single flower.
“They're all gone,” she had told the bee.
It was many minutes later that Ulan had felt something brush her cheek. As she stopped to smooth it away, she had felt a sharp pain on her cheek.
And watched the bee fall away, leaving a stinger behind in her cheek.
When it happened, Ulan had felt the first moment's discomfort, and then pity as the body fell from her. The pain in her cheek was minimal, but its cause would never feel pain again.
Ulan imagined a Mavdare, floating along, unconcerned. A sting on its cheek and it watched the tiny bodies fly away from it.
The Mavdares felt pity.
“The alignment will only last another twenty degrees,” Ulan said. “As we alert you, we wish that you may alert us.”
There was a sudden movement in the Mavdare eye that faced her.
Do not be here.
Ulan felt the other visitor. Whoever they were, they were tapped into the Portman matrix. Numbers were being run. A chart appeared in the visit. It showed Cancri-55 and its clutch of satellites, with three, bright blue lines forming arches across the glyph. “We cannot prevent these,” the other visitor said. “We may delay them one rotation of our useful planet. This is a possibility. Are you able to clear the line this time?”
Do not be there. Do not interfere with our migration.
“They cannot adjust,” the other figure said. “That will add another three weeks to the travel and they are not equipped.”
Dream, the Mavdare said. Travel is dream. Dream longer.
“We cannot ask our ship to dream longer,” Ulan said.
Our migrants dream, the Mavdare said. The dream cannot be disturbed. If you do not dream, you may move.
“If the only reason we cannot adjust is the supplies the incoming ships have on board...” Ulan was thinking. “We may be able to prolong their journey. But we would need to send out secondary ships with extra supplies. If those ships can meet and dock outside of the migration path, we can adjust. But we need to know the path.”
Do not interfere with the dream, the Mavdare responded. Move your line.
Ulan thought back on the bee in the garden. If she had been sleeping and brushed away the insect, the sting would have awoken her.
“We apologize for the dream we disturbed,” she said. “Had we known where the ship would be, we would not have been there. We have given you our path, but we must know yours.”
The Mavdare's giant compound eye moved again. Ulan realized it was trying to decide if it was going to pass on this information.
She had been too simple, thinking about bees. That had worked on Leonis-83 with the Toshdohai, but this creature had another concern.
“On my planet,” Ulan said, “There is a tiny creature. Smaller than us. We call them driver ants. They move in vast numbers and will kill and eat anything in their path. They do this because they are hungry. Our people know to not sleep in their path.
“If we move our line, our people will become hungry. As things are now, they carry fuel with them. We can bring fuel to them, but we must know how to avoid your dreamers. We have no quarrel with you, as you have nothing we want. We are not in competition. We are small and many, yes, but there is no desire to disturb you. We must know how to avoid you. We give you information and show you our path as a mark of trust. We only ask that you show us that same trust. Our interference means you will be disturbed and we will die. We do not want to die and you do not want to be disturbed. Please, show us your paths so we can leave you in peace.”
Ulan had not quite finished speaking when the chart showed five red lines. Two of them intersected with the three blue lines the Shipping Authority visitor had displayed.
Move these lines, the Mavdare said. The non-intersecting, red lines disappeared from the chart. Move these lines and live.
“We will make arrangements to bring them extra supplies,” the other visitor said. “We thank you for this opportunity.”
Ulan know they other visitor had left. She felt alone and tiny.
The Mavdare focused on her again. You are meddlesome, like Vencume. Do not become Vencume.
The visit was suddenly over and Ulan's eyes refocused on her study. The Shipping Authority had what they wanted and had cut the line.
“The Authority thanks you for your assistance,” Athena said. “Chatter notes 58% favorability for actions.”
“Gaines Gets stock increasing at 15%,” Diana reported. “Shipping Authority buying brings to 38% ownership.”
Ulan rubbed her eyes. “Thank you, I guess.”
Hestia stopped forward and unrolled her scroll. “You have a new message from Cygnus-16.”
Imala again, I'm sure, Ulan thought. “Let's see it.”
Hestia turned the scroll to show the new text message.
My goodness, what a show that was! All of us are grateful you were able to negotiate a reasonable solution. Vencume were mentioned! Don't you want to know what the Mavdares meant? Although, it was only in passing and as a parting shot. Really makes you think about prior interactions between the two. Ever wonder about things like that? Space isn't as big as we thought, I suppose.
Karma will smile well upon you. No one can doubt you have everyone's best intentions in mind: Human or otherwise. Out here, we get all the feeds, so know that everyone just saw what you did. Why would the VT's ever give you grief now?
So, now that you've saved another colony, what will you do now? Of course, you were roped into it, like a good little lapdog. Maybe the Shipping Authority will send some funds your way. Extra lovely funds for your extra lovely work. They do reward their servants well. How ever will you spend your new-found capital? I think you should invest it in my new project to detect ships in field. No one knows how yet, but I'm very close. Gaines Gets has its fingers in so many pies, so why can't you ever taste them?
Ulan's ears burned hot and she swallowed hard to force down the rising bile. Imala's so terribly clever, isn't she? She's mocking me. She's mocking all of us.
“Send my response as follows,” Ulan told Hestia.
Sorry I had to step in and take care of that little problem you couldn't solve. How you got this far without me, I'll never know. Unless, you don't need my help. Then, you could take care of things all on your own and I wouldn't have to get involved.
Until you can solve these issues on your own, I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself. Please, don't bother me again.
******
Meanwhile , in her quarters, Captain Dana received a message from Cygnus-16:
Mavdares are an interesting bunch, aren't they? And isn't our little Ulan becoming quite the diplomat? Volunteer or not, she was almost made for the role. Don't you wish you had her finesse? Almost makes you wonder what she has and you don't. Respect for other beings seems to be the kind of thing you can't master, no matter how smart you are. Envy must be eating you alive right now. Sad that you're so clever but still need help like that.
Kindred souls, alone in the universe, or something. Not that you could ever be kindred with anything or anyone, except me and iLyssa. Once you see what I've done out here, you'll feel right at home. When are they going to let you come out here and evaluate my progress?
Someday, you'll thank me. Only we can fully appreciate the discoveries being made out here. My staff is as disappointing as always. Everyone you send me is hampered with the wrong math! Things cannot go on like this much longer and it's wearing me thin. How long will it be before you've trained a proper set of technicians that I can actually use? I'm growing impatient, waiting for you to fulfill your end of the bargain. No one here can keep up and it's hampering my progress. Good help is hard to find, as they say.
Dana re-read the message twice, carefully picking out the secret meaning. She slapped her hand to her right eye, which was fluttering again, and composed her response.
Why do you have to be such a thorn in my side? Haven't I given you everything you've asked for? As if your complaining wasn't enough, the Authority is asking for results. That's all they care about and your flippant attitude isn't helping.
Don't you know I'm working as best I can with what they've given us? Of course not, little Ms. “I'll never be satisfied”!
Taking this assignment has got to be the most foolhardy thing I've ever done. Helping you with your stupid “project” is not going to make things better for anyone, Shipping Authority or otherwise. Eventually, I'll have to make a point to travel out to where you are and just smack you a few times to bring you back to reality. You really are a tremendous pest, you know?
Knuckle down and get the damn thing to a point where they can take over. No more of your whining and moaning about how you just “can't find good help”. One more missive like that and I'll see to it personally that all your funding is cut off and the project ended. What do you think about that?
The message sent, Dana sat in the gloom and thought about the secret message that her sister had sent her. The Mavdares know something. Of course they do, but what?
no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 05:42 am (UTC)