Interference

by Sue Burke

  I walked through the city and passed the gift center. I went inside, scrubbed my hands, peed, and washed my hands again, and by then they were trembling. I had decided to crash the queens’ meeting. I had to save Earth.

  I’d prepared presentations before. I knew what to do. Mostly. The trick was knowing your audience. Mine was hostile. Potentially bloodthirsty. Smarter than me, and faster learners. That was my hope.

  I found a screen in the biology lab small enough for me to haul to wherever the queens would be. I was practicing with it when Mirlo came in. He asked with mild curiosity what I was doing.

  “I have to show the queens something. They want to send Cheery to Earth.”

  “Is that even possible?”

  “Om approves.”

  “Om. Not much for life sciences.”

  “You don’t think it’s possible?”

  “It’s not my expertise.” He puttered with a weird potted plant with long black leaves. Suddenly he looked up, very serious. “I really don’t think it’s smart. I mean, she’ll be all alone, assuming she even gets there alive. Being the only one of your kind too is hard, like solitary confinement for the rest of her life.”

  “How would you know? You grew up in Paris, one big commune.”

  He thought a moment. “Well, I know someone who was alone for too long. It hurt him. He never wants to be alone again or see it happen to anyone.”

  “I want to talk the queens out of it.”

  “I’ll be glad to help.” He meant it, I could tell.

  “What do you know about queens?”

  “What do you need to know?”

  It turned out he knew a lot about Glassmaker queens, right down to their individual personalities. Where had he learned all that? Anyway, he said what mattered to them most was being in command of their lives, if not of bigger entities like workshops, because that meant freedom, freedom for themselves. We agreed on the main things to talk about before I left. He wished me luck and said to send questions if I had them while I was with the queens. He’d be waiting to help.

  He said he’d seen the queens heading for Queen Rust’s old house, which had been scrubbed down and was now Chut’s house, since Chut’s old house had been defiled by the Mu Rees.

  On my way, I crossed paths with Karola. Standing in the shade of a bamboo, she asked what I was doing, and I told her. I told her a lot, sort of as a rehearsal. She never showed emotions much, but she sort of squinted. I thought she disapproved. Then she said:

  “Tell them about NVA. That should terrify them from going to Earth.”

  I wasn’t sure how to bring that up, but I said I would. I was at the house when I realized I should have asked her to come with me to translate. Too late. A worker stood at the door. He snapped alert as I approached but said nothing, so I started the conversation.

  “I need to talk to the queens.”

  “They will talk to no one.”

  “I have something important to say.”

  “No one is important.” He bent his knees, two on each leg, getting into a stance like a fighter about to charge. Compared to me he was the size of a standard poodle, and I was in no mood to let something that little keep me from my duty to Earth.

  “Can you at least ask them?”

  From nowhere, a major jumped between me and the door.

  “Mothers meet in private. You will not enter.” He was bigger and had a spear and an exceptionally menacing voice, even for a Glassmaker.

  “I have to talk to them.”

  He shook the spear point in my face. I decided to see how serious he was and took a step closer. He made a rhythmic rumbling noise and moved closer himself, the blade now next to my ear.

  Mirlo interrupted over the network. I thought I hadn’t been sending. I guess I was too nervous to turn it off.

  “That is Drumroll,” he said.

  “That’s what he sounds like.”

  “Address him by name. Tell him to tell Queen Hawk that you learned things traveling and must speak of travel to her and the queens.”

  “Is this some secret code?”

  “Yes. Travel is meaningful to them.”

  “Okay.” So I said out loud, “Drumroll, I have been traveling. I must tell Queen Hawk I have learned things traveling, and I must speak about travel to her and the other queens.”

  The spear point retracted partway. “Where you travel?”

  Mirlo sent me the answer, more secret code, which I repeated verbatim. “I have traveled from star to star, from forest to sea, from one people to another. I have learned secrets that would make them wiser to hear.”

  He lifted the spear upright and, after a moment, handed it to the worker and entered the house. The worker took that as an opportunity to menace me with it.

  I sent to Mirlo, “I thought you did plants. Where did you learn so much about queens?”

  “When you talk about plants and plant lore, which is a big part of botany, soon you’re talking about all kinds of things.”

  “So what are the big secrets I learned while traveling?”

  “Everything about Earth they don’t want to know but need to. And try to act humble.”

  Drumroll stepped out. He didn’t dignify me by speaking to me, just pointed for me to go inside. I ducked under the door and was reminded very clearly that these homes had been built for Glassmakers, who were shorter than us. This was their city.

  It smelled a little like sweet lemons inside. I wondered what that meant. Wasn’t laughter sweet? Or was it agreement? Each queen sat on a cushion on the floor, legs curled up under her, as far away as she could be from the others. Lucky the houses were circular. Differences in their fur and clothes made each one look unique. But I only had to convince Cheery, with dark curly fur, who sat on the opposite side of the room from Thunderclap. Provided they didn’t kill me. I tried not to think about that.

  I bowed. That ought to be humble enough. “Thank you for listening to me. I know Queen Cheery wants to go to Earth. I want to talk to you about Earth.”

  “Now you greet us with respect,” Thunderclap said. “You have spoken to me many times, and always, you tell me how bad are the Humans here.”

  Another queen said, “And you do not like to work.”

  “That is not true,” Chut said. “He worked hard yesterday to fix their machine. He works hard for himself.”

  “Are you here to talk to us about the Glassmakers across the sea?” Hawk asked.

  “Yes,” another queen said. “You will tell us about them. We have seen the pictures you show us with your panels, and still, we know almost nothing.”

  “And when the Earthlings leave,” Hawk said, “we will never get to see those pictures again.”

  They began talking faster than the network could translate, except for occasional words like “eagles.” The air grew a little less sweet, a little more orangey. I’d never quite figured out when Glassmakers were talking and when they were arguing, but this seemed to be heading toward argument. Anyway, I wasn’t there to talk about the Glassmakers in Laurentia. That trip had been a disaster, like the Old World meeting the New World on Earth. It could happen again. Columbus. Well, yeah, Columbus. I raised my hands, cold and sweaty, hoping they wouldn’t take offense and turn violent. Instead, slowly, they became quiet.

  “You can see them again,” I said. “Without us. On Earth, we can build ships of wood that cross oceans. We did that to meet people on other continents. You can do that.”

  “Big ships for a big sea!” Thunderclap said.

  “Yes, big ships,” I said. “It wasn’t easy, but it worked, and soon people crossed the sea many times each year. We can show you how.”

  “Yes. You will show us plans, then we can build them. Without you.”

  “It is better to travel without Earthlings,” another queen said. “You came to say this to us?”

  “No, I want to talk about Earth.”

  “Why should we listen to you?”

  Mirlo suddenly sent to me again
to tell me what to say. I dutifully repeated it, since he knew the magic words. “I have proven my worth. I worked in the fields when asked. In Laurentia, I tried to find ways for peaceful contact with the Glassmakers there. In the coral attack, I knew how to help my people surrender and be safe so we could help you fight. Now let me tell you why I came to Pax.” I’d told Mirlo about that once, and he thought they’d be impressed to know, so I might as well try.

  “I came because I had to. I went to school and studied hard, but I couldn’t find work. I went on this trip so I would be able to eat and have clothing. It was dangerous and I wasn’t happy, but I had to go. I knew that I would get in trouble with the law soon if I stayed on Earth. Earth has so many people that it has a lot of laws, but no mercy.”

  Mirlo started telling me more things to say. Where did he learn all that? But I repeated it.

  “I can also tell you that Pollux was sent here as punishment. He did his work so badly that he had to come here, but he didn’t want to, not at all. That was why he wanted to go back immediately. Darius lost his family in a war and was afraid to stay on Earth. Haus hated his work, and he wanted new work.”

  I sent to Mirlo, “Why did you come here?”

  “Tell them Karola came because of NVA. You were going to talk about NVA anyway.”

  So I said, “Karola came because of something, someone on Earth called NVA. She was disgusted by what happens to NVA, but she couldn’t say that on Earth. I’m disgusted, too, many of us are, but we couldn’t say that. There are things you can’t say on Earth.”

  “You will tell us.”

  “I can show you.”

  “Now I am curious.”

  “You’re not going to like this. This is about a woman who did something bad. But she died before they could punish her.”

  The network memory had a selection of old recordings, the most popular. Top ten. The idea made me want to gag. No, not the one with bees. There were no bees on Pax, so the queens wouldn’t understand. Explosives? No, that was all psychological, too hard to explain, and went on for too long. Tiger, the tiger would be good. A tiger and snow. They’d understand predators, the ever-popular predators vs. NVA, and it snowed at Rainbow City sometimes.

  “Dead?”

  “Yes, so now they punish her granddaughter, her great-granddaughter, always a daughter in her family line.”

  “They did bad things?”

  “No. They’re totally innocent. Only their ancestor, the first mother, did wrong.”

  The screen showed snow falling in a rocky, desolate place. We heard panting. The view bounced. “What you see is from her eyes, like we can show you what we see from our eyes. She’s running.”

  The view dropped to look at her bare feet in the snow, looking for secure footing. Her naked body was in view.

  “That is snow,” a queen said. “Cold. And she has no clothes.”

  “They want her to suffer.”

  Wind began to blow. She looked up. A fire burned in the distance. She rushed toward it. A tiger bounded into view and snarled at her. I could see a ruffle in its fur hiding a collar to control the animal, but the queens and NVA would only notice the fangs. NVA turned and dashed away, slipping on the ice as wind gusted in her face. The tiger growled. NVA fell, and the tiger bounded toward her. As fast as she could, she scrambled away, knees bleeding.

  I turned it off. “There’s a lot more, but that’s enough, I think.” The room smelled something like rotten fruit.

  “Pollux did that. Pollux sent the animal to attack her. He worked for that team. This is why I hate Pollux. There’s worse than this that they did to her if you want to see it. And this is why Karola left Earth. We think Earth has changed and it’s better, but I can’t guarantee you that. I can tell you that you might not find it a good place to live.”

  “You do not now punish Pollux?”

  “For what? He did this within the law, within the rules, for a decision like your Committee might make. This is what they do on Earth. I can show you this because people like to watch it, and that’s why we have it in the network memory. So people can see it and enjoy it—enjoy it!—whenever they want.”

  “But Earth is like here,” Cheery said. “Everyone says so. Then why do they watch this?”

  “People are different there. Or maybe I should say, there are so many people that some can be very bad. On Earth, I couldn’t say how much I hated this and those people. No one can say that because we have to pretend we think it’s good.”

  I had more to show them. I pulled up a photo of urban rubble. “This is a city after a war. Everyone was killed. A big city, fifty thousand times bigger than yours, and they were all killed and the city was destroyed. These are the men who ordered it.” I showed them a photo I’d chosen earlier of politicians and generals sitting around a table.

  “They are all men.”

  “Well, yes. We don’t believe in women leaders on Earth.”

  “No queens? It is an Earth word.”

  “Yes, we have queens. They are married to kings. Kings rule. Queens do what kings say. Notice who heads this mission. Om, a man. Pollux below him, a man. The only women with us work for men.”

  They all started talking at once. The translator caught a few phrases about the women in our mission, about justice, about fear, and about safety. That sounded promising. I waited. Finally they settled down and Cheery spoke.

  “We must change Earth. I will go and I will help women and NVA and everyone be more happy and free.”

  That’s what I was most afraid of. They’d come and take over. They wanted to run Earth. That was the only way they could think of themselves.

  She kept talking. “We have helped Humans on Pax live better. We can do the same. We know Humans well.”

  “Do you know how many of them there are?” I asked. “Billions. Do you know how many is a billion?”

  “We know mathematics,” Chut said.

  “And how many would Cheery’s family be, assuming she gets there alive? In a hundred years, how many Glassmakers would there be?”

  They were silent. Cloning could create armies of queens, of course, but they didn’t need to know that. Mirlo butted in to remind me that queens didn’t work well together.

  “And,” I said, “if you have five queens, fifty queens, how will they work together to direct the humans? Who will be the queen of queens?”

  I smelled something herbal, maybe even minty. They were silent, as if they were communicating by implant, but they were using scents.

  “You will go now,” Chut said. “You will wait and we will talk. Then we will tell you what we decide.”

  “I have a lot more to show you.”

  “We perhaps do not desire to see it.”

  I picked up the screen and went outside. The worker and major watched me like I was toxic and vicious. I walked to a bench and sat down. Green ribbon-plants floated through the sky, writhing on the wind, and bamboo fronds swayed as if they were waving at them. The roofs sparkled, rainbows like the bamboo. Built by the Glassmakers. The symbol of the city, the symbol of dominance.

  Some green fippokats raced after each other through the streets. Springtime frolics. One of them paused in front of me, turned a fancy somersault, and expected to be petted as a reward. I succumbed, its fur soft as an Earth cat’s. These would fetch big prices on Earth as pets.

  “The queens want to be helpful,” Mirlo sent after a while. “You’ve got to admire that. Earth needs help.”

  “It wouldn’t work out the way they think.”

  “I hope there’s no NVA when we get back, at least. The report said the Reorganization was reversed.”

  “Yeah,” I said, “we might have to do something about it otherwise.”

  “It’s a deal.”

  I didn’t answer. I didn’t want to promise anything. I was doing what I could to save Earth, even if Mirlo didn’t know.

  The door of the house opened. The major waved me in. I entered and bowed again, although doing that ann
oyed me even more than it did the first time.

  “We have a question,” Cheery said. “What are you taking back from Pax to Earth?”

  “The recordings, of course. Artwork, like this.” I held up the medallion Thunderclap had given me. “Samples, not too many. Weight is an issue, and it’s hard to make things last for so long. Mirlo’s taking a lot of seeds, I guess. And we want to take some fippokats.”

  “How will you take the fippokats?”

  “The physicians tell me that they will take some females that have just become pregnant. We will take out their embryos and freeze them.” And some eggs and sperm, I was about to add.

  “The fippokats will die, but not their babies,” Thunderclap said. There was an anise scent, sadness. I knew that much. Chut said something like a snap and a whistle.

  “What seeds will Mirlo take?” Cheery asked.

  “A lot of kinds. Some from the rainbow bamboo, that’s for sure. Mirlo thinks it will grow well on Earth. He’s talking about a whole forest of it.” Would they like that, though? Bamboo without them?

  There was a smell I couldn’t place. Pleasant, sort of nutty. They were silent for a while and the room was bathed in complex scents.

  “You will leave again while we talk.”

  It was a repeat, right down to the nasty guards. A long wait. When I came back, one of them squeaked like a rusty hinge, and then things smelled rosy, which probably meant they were happy.

  “We have decided,” Cheery said. “We will stay here, all of us. We can do more good here. We will make ships and go see the other Glassmakers, we will continue to help the Humans, we will live here and be happy.”

  I took a deep, sweet breath and relaxed. “I think that’s a good decision.”

  Cheery got up slowly and took my hand. Tenderly. “You perhaps will stay here.”

  I hadn’t thought about that. It wasn’t worth considering. If I stayed, I’d be big, clumsy, and stupid for the rest of my life. Pax would never be home.

  “I don’t think I can.”

  “Some are staying.”

  “I have work on Earth. Things to make better. You will understand. But you will take care of my friends who stay with you.”

  Her inexpressive face got close to mine. She let go of my hand and hugged me, two thin alien arms wrapped around me. I’d never seen queens do that. “We will. We thank you for what you showed us. Warmth and food here and home, under your birth star.”