Termination Shock

by Gillian Andrews

  I won’t go into the detail of the four-day discussions. To my mind, they went on forever. I found myself falling into a sort of reverie that lasted hours. I simply tuned out all of the droning demands of the Avaraks and Oznard’s patient responses. Why had I agreed to sit in on this?

  Almost all of the demands of the Avaraks were slowly but firmly denied, one by one, with mind-numbingly long explanations as to why they could not be incorporated. It was clear from the beginning where this was going. The Avaraks would have to sign with only minimal concessions by the other races.

  I really couldn’t see why our presence was necessary, but Oznard would not release us to work on Nivala. Her bargaining chip was Zenzara. She agreed to let the time spent now over the Alliance signing count against this year’s obligatory stay on Tyzar. She claimed that the interstellar nature of Nivala’s crew gave her credibility. Even though Zenzie had begged me to agree, her own crest drooped more and more as the week drew on.

  I can’t blame her; I even caught Denaraz sleeping at one point. Luckily, Tyzarans don’t snore. Strangely, he didn’t appear grateful when I kindly woke him up by applying most of my weight to one of his feet. I discovered that Tyzaran feet are surprisingly tender.

  Once the bare bones of some sort of agreement had been reached, we were all shepherded aboard a large Tyzaran cruiser and escorted at top speed to Ulon Prime. By that time, other signatories had arrived representing most of the other Shell Races. Only the Vaers and the Terrans had rejected the idea out of hand.

  It was good to be back on Ulon Prime. As our shuttle came down, we saw that many rafts of kelp had been brought together for the signing ceremony. There were shuttles from Enifa, from the Space Trust and from Nephealis.

  I had never met Nepheals before. They were large creatures, which made space travel uncomfortable for them. Their shuttle was much bigger than anybody else’s.

  Zenzie was alongside me at the viewport, hoping to catch a first glimpse of the race renowned for its intelligence and reasoning. She gasped as their size became apparent. They must have been over twice the height of an elder Avarak. Twice the height but half the bulk. They were tall, elegant creatures that walked elegantly on their back two legs, although they could also drop to all fours if speed were required. The upper part of their bodies reared up from the forelegs and culminated in a long, curved neck which transitioned seamlessly into a head. The head was slim and their eyes wise.

  I stared past Zenzie’s ear at them. They were quite unlike any species I had ever seen before. “What do you know about them?” I asked.

  It was Seyal who answered. She had asked to accompany us in the shuttle, though of course, she would not be descending onto Ulon Prime. She was, it seemed, taking her duties as an interpreter very seriously.

  “They are fiercely protective of all environmental issues,” she told us. “They dislike political scheming.”

  I was warming to them even more. “Go on. Tell us about them.”

  “They developed like that because Nephealis is a rocky medium-gravity world with abrupt terrain. This means that very little food can grow on it. The one plant that adapted to it was the phyonwe tree.”

  I started. “Phyonwe? The fruit? The fruit I feed my Geiga?”

  “Indeed. It is now exported all over the Major Shells. Phyonwe trees are very tall and grow in extremely rocky terrain, which is why the Nepheals have developed as they are. They are as tall and thin but have long goat-like heads and large soft eyes. They possess an extraordinary intellect. They have immensely strong digits, which on their home planet enable them to anchor themselves to rocks.”

  The three of us stretched our own necks to get a better view of this amazing race. Seyal pointed out a small group of Nepheals on one of the rafts. “Their civilization developed quickly after a blight killed almost all of the phyonwe trees. The Northern Nepheals were drawn together and they were able to fashion tools out of the pliable bark. Many seeds were saved, and from that point on they began to cultivate the lower, flatter lands. Modern day Nepheals are believed to be only two thirds the size of their ancestors, and have shorter necks.

  “Nepheals were hunted almost to extinction by avian ancestors of the Vaers. They still detest modern Vaers. One of their greatest insults is ‘You could have feathers’ or ‘He speaks through a beak.’”

  “I’m inclined to agree with them.”

  “Yes. They developed space travel a thousand years ago, but they are a fundamentally passive race. They prefer the beauty of nature, and their own planet. Exploring is hard for them. Their spaceships have to be very large to accommodate them. Still, they do export the excess of their phyonwe fruit production. The fruit is highly prized across all the Major Shells, being full of vitamins and considered to prevent many ailments, especially of bones and cartilage. They keep a circular space station – of huge dimensions – in orbit above Nephealis. This is used as a staging post for the export of the fruit. Nowadays, the Nepheal space presence is almost entirely limited to that space station. Few Nepheals feel the need to leave their own planet. They maintain a small fleet of light cruisers with pulser cannon capacity as a front defense but these generally can be found docked at the Nepheal Gyre, as their space station is called.”

  Seyal stopped for a moment as the shuttle finally settled on the sea bed. We watched in silence as the rafts were brought over and bundled together. The shuttle engines switched off, leaving a sudden silence. Seyal smiled to herself.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Do you know about their Phaala?”

  “Never heard of it.”

  “Mothers-to-be retire to the wilderness in the mountains where large retreats have been built in recent times. They voluntarily separate from their community and from their partners since in ancestral times the newly born attracted the interest of the predators and thus brought danger to the community.

  “The newly born are tended to in a mountain retreat by their mothers until the can run almost as fast as the pack, which is around one year old.

  “During this time, both parents separately dedicate their spare time to illumination as a symbol of their mutual love and dedication. Each tries to write a thesis that will enhance the knowledge of the species. A meaningful thesis is considered to be a testament to the profundity of their love. This is one of the reasons that the Nepheals have developed so far and so quickly. They are bright and have the best grasp of quantum mechanics in all the Major Shells.

  “A great celebration is held when a mother brings her offspring back to the fold. It is known as the Phaala . Phaala is when the theses are read to a peer council, when the young are welcomed into city life, when the Nepheal celebrate the successful raising of another of their race. Each of the young are inscribed in the state register and their lineage back to the olden times is immortalized for their future progeny to study. The two theses welcoming them are also incorporated into the inscription. To date, no foreigners have ever been invited to a Phaala.”

  “You make them sound very erudite,” commented Zenzie. She seemed a little disappointed.

  Seyal nodded. “They are great orators. There is something called the Dialectis, which is a weekly competition of logical argumentation where major philosophical or scientific themes are debated and discussed.”

  Zenzara wrinkled her nose up.

  Seyal saw this and tried to convince. “No, really! The most successful orators are idolized by the Nepheals. They command huge sums to give an address.”

  You could tell that this wasn’t exactly selling it to our future Chyzar.

  Seyal was frustrated that she hadn’t been able to bring enthusiasm to Zenzara’s small face. “They appreciate music and art. They especially value Enif art, having an affinity for the Enif way of life. Deference and form are important to them. It is considered rude to brea
k into somebody’s speech.”

  Seyal petered out, looking to me. Her face was sad. She wanted us to admire the Nepheals, wanted us to empathize with them. I thanked her. “You are doing a great job, Seyal. Tell me, what is the correct etiquette when introduced to one of them?”

  Her eyes sparked again. “You must lower your head to the floor.”

  “That’s all right if you are a giraffe,” snapped Zenzie. “How are we supposed to do that?”

  “Oh. I don’t know. I’m sorry.” Seyal reddened and I glared at Zenzara.

  Supreme Oznard pushed past us from behind, on her way to the shuttle hatch. “You incline from your waist and attempt to touch your toes or the floor,” she said curtly. “These little gestures are things that you are going to need if you are hoping to represent the Alliance.”

  Seyal deflated visibly even further. She bowed and almost disappeared into the wall.

  Zenzie was practicing the Nepheal salute. I did too. I couldn’t touch either my toes or the floor. She could touch both. Now I was feeling inferior, too.

  “Didj?”

  “Yes, Mallivan?”

  “Is there a special way to greet Enif?”

  It chittered. “Of course!”

  “What must we do?”

  “That would depend on who it is. We have a pyramidal democracy. Ordinary Enif would exchange a small bow …,” it demonstrated, “… like this. If you are meeting a Ziifaan, you would bend one knee …,” again a demonstration, “… so. If you are introduced to a Belofiin, you would bend both knees. To a Sandiif, you would kneel on your right knee. To a Mendiliif you would kneel on your left knee. To the Aliifat, you would kneel on both knees.”

  I turned to the self-effaced Seyal. She shrugged. She hadn’t got to the Enif yet in her studies.

  “Err … how do I know which is which?”

  Didjal and Eshaan shook with the Enif equivalent of laughter. “You look at their tattoos, of course!” It took pity on me. “Ziifaan have a tattoo of our sun, Enifa, on their left neck. Belofiin have tattoos of the sun on both sides of the neck. Sandiif have tattoos of the sun on the left of the face in addition, Mendiliif have tattoos on both the left and right of the face, as well as the two on their necks, of course. The Aliifat has a further tattoo in the centre of its forehead, plus all the others, of course.”

  Mmm, that sounded easy but it wasn’t. I might have a problem there. Enif are tall thin black and more than slightly insecty. Aliens with high-gloss reflective body parts don’t show up their tattoos very well. Certainly not from a distance.

  “What about the ones we are about to meet?”

  Didjal peered out of the viewport. “One Mendiliif and two Sandiif,” it told us. “You kneel with both legs, as if you were meeting the Aliifat itself.”

  “Thank you.” I guess we were going to have to take some lessons in Alien protocols, but that would have to go on the back burner for a while. I hated to think how many times we had omitted the bare essentials of civility.

  There were some very tricky moments with Kelkator over the equality clauses in the final document. The Tyzarans had skated over this issue in the original talks, so the clause on equality came as a nasty shock to the Avarak delegation. Not surprisingly, the Avarak leader was outraged by the idea that females could ever have rights. I gather that they were within an inch of not signing. I had been back on board Nivala at the time.

  Izan, who had been present, told me how they had managed to persuade the Avarak delegation. Apparently, Hekkaan, the Nepheal chief signatory, had regarded Kelkator with some amusement.

  “You are worried that the females will rise up against you?”

  Kelkator snorted. “Of course not!”

  “Do they even speak Universal?”

  Another snort of derision. “Of course not!”

  “Do they even know about this document?”

  “They do not!” The female Avaraks had been left on board one of the Avarak ships, back on the Kallima space station. I think he had completely forgotten about Seyal. In any case, she was unlanded. They thought that meant that she had ceased to be Avarak.

  Hekkaan had smiled broadly. In his soft, mellow voice he had sounded triumphant and persuasive. “Then there is no problem, I think? They cannot claim that which is unknown. It seems to me a very small sacrifice on your part for the very great advantages which this document will bring to the Avaraks as a whole.” He had ticked them off on his fingers. “Immediate use of the ZEPH drive, preferential fitting of all new technology, powerful allies against the Terrans, access to the Tyzaran shipyards and to our own advances.”

  Kelkator had licked his lips. It was, after all, a very tempting package. “Very well,” he had finally said. “We will sign. But only one copy shall be taken to Rhyveka, and it shall be stored far away from prying eyes.”

  Seyal would soon circumvent that attempt at burying this treaty. She was buzzing with excitement about the position that fate had put her in. She had every intention of slowly working to bring the female population of Rhyveka into a modern, independent era. She planned to get copies of the new treaty to wives who might still talk to her. She thought that it would take some time, but that female Avaraks would gradually become aware of their rights and even – in the far future – demand some of them. Her eyes grew starry when she thought of this.

  “We are usually dead by the time we are seventeen,” she said, jaw working with emotion. “And our vocal chords are mutilated just to be more attractive to the male population! It has to change! I want to make them change!”

  “Well, you certainly have changed,” I said. “I don’t think your husband or your father would recognize you now.”

  She nodded. “They wouldn’t. I am my own person now. I don’t belong to anybody.”

  “People shouldn’t belong to other people.”

  “No,” her eyes looked far into the distance and I thought she was seeing her own past history. “No, they shouldn’t. A lot of things are going to have to change.”

  “Change takes time.” I realized how much of a platitude it was as soon as the words were out of my mouth.

  Zenzara gave me a thump on my arm. “No it doesn’t. You only have to look how fast everything changed for us.”

  “True. Perhaps it doesn’t. Only, I have the feeling that the male Avaraks aren’t going to adapt to strong females very readily. The females may have quite a fight on their hands.”

  Seyal grinned. “Not really. There is now a signed treaty to protect us. We can appeal to the Interstellar Alliance. They are honor bound to protect us.”

  Zenzie jumped up and down in glee. “Yes! And the really great thing is that the males themselves signed it! It is one of those things. You know, one of those classical things that creep up on you when you are bad.”

  “Retribution?”

  “Yes! A reckoning!”

  Seyal illuminated as if she were a Christmas tree. “The Reckoning,” she repeated. “That is what we will seek! The Reckoning of the Females!”

  I huffed. “That sounds like the title of a bad film.”

  “Maybe it does, but it is going to happen, just the same!” Zenzie and Seyal did some sort of dance of victory which involved linking elbows and circling while jumping up and down.

  “You both look very silly.”

  Zenzie laughed. “Kelkator is the one who is going to look silly, you mark my words!”

  I wasn’t about to object to that. He was one Avarak who could certainly do with a change.

  So the formal documents were signed and the Interstellar Alliance came into being. The founder members were the Enif, the Spacelanders, the Tyzarans, the Macers, the Nepheals and the Avaraks. Six of the eight races of the Major Shells. I wondered if it would ever admit the othe
r two. The Terrans, with their expansionist plans, and the Vaers with their factions and a total disregard for property … when it belonged to other people.

  I knew that Vaers guarded their own assets very carefully. They like to hoard their money. Control of finance and profit on Vaer Prime is mandatory and enforced with an iron fist.

  Many Vaers who found Prime too rule bound and restrictive moved to the new colony of Vaer Nova. Such individuals tend to have fewer principles and are motivated by money more than anything else. Many of them consider killing to get what they want an acceptable option. More and more of Nova’s inhabitants have situated themselves well outside what would be considered decent by Major Shell terms. Nova is the place to go to buy arms and weaponry in general. Many of the Nova Vaers dabble in the receipt of stolen goods, and their sale. This encourages pirates of any origin to gravitate to that area. Nova is generally considered to be the best place in the Shells for an unscrupulous individual.

  Over the years, Vaer Prime lost its influence over the Novans. Now, there is great mistrust between the two planets. They have become enemies.

  There didn’t seem to be that much trust amongst the members of the new Alliance, either. After the signing there was a celebratory party with refreshments and drinks. It was not the great success which Oznard had probably envisioned. The delegates stuck together in their own small groups and only the Macers and one or two Tyzarans made the effort to be really sociable. The Avaraks folded their heavy arms across their chests and regarded the whole thing with solid distrust.

  Oznard also made a long speech about common aims and goals. This, too, was received with bored faces and a clear desire to leave. Even the Enif delegates were seen to be chattering silently together during her talk.