by Robin Roseau
I caught about half of mine. I saw the taller girls had trouble getting underneath Mother, and a few bumped her. But soon, all the girls had completed the makeshift obstacle course. As soon as the last girl finished, all the girls ran back out and collected their adults.
Laughing, they pulled us around the school again, finally landing back outside. They lined us up, and then I took four friendly hugs and gave a promise to come back.
The girls collected together on the steps of the school. The headmistress gave them a minute to calm down, but then she asked, “Ready?”
“Ready!” they said.
Most of the girls were in a cluster on the steps, but two girls were standing side-by-side to the left, and two to the right, a little separated from the other girls. The headmistress lifted her hands, and then she gestured, and the girls began singing a song.
This was a Talmonese song. I hadn’t heard it before, but it was a song of farewell. They sang a verse and one chorus, but then for the second verse, the two girls to the left sang.
In English.
Then all the girls joined for the chorus. For the third verse, the girls on the right sang, and they surprised the hell out of me.
They were singing in German.
Mother’s jaw dropped.
There was another chorus, and then for the final verse, the four girls stepped forward, two singing in English and two in German. The girls singing in English slowly walked to Pippa while the two singing German walked up to Mother. Then they sang the chorus, just the four of them, before all the girls joined in for one final time, half singing in English and half in German.
The song came to an end. The adults applauded wildly. The girls cheered. And then they swarmed forth. All of them went from adult to adult, offering a brief hug before running back into the school.
A minute later, we were left alone, staring at the closed doors of the school.
Then Pippa turned and pointed to Cecilia. “You, Governor, do not play fair.”
She turned and began walking off, but Cecilia said, “Pippa Gaines.” Pippa came to a stop but didn’t turn around. “I’d like you to consider two things. First, do I have your attention?”
Pippa paused and then said, “Yes, you do.”
“Second, do you recognize my loyalty?”
Pippa spun at that. “I don’t understand your question. Loyalty to whom?”
“To Talmon. To the people. And to Maddalyn, who asked for help convincing her friends to stay.” Cecilia smiled sweetly. “Would you expect me to apply myself halfheartedly?”
“Cecilia?” I said.
She turned to me and actually blew me a kiss but then turned back to Pippa. “Tell me, Pippa Gaines. Who do you think needs you the most?”
“That’s not the point.”
“Isn’t it?” Cecilia asked. “I have no interest in you if your main motivation is an implant.”
“We’re not talking about that right now.”
“Good,” Cecilia said. “Let’s talk about those sweet girls instead. Let’s talk about how when they go to rejuvenation to support their grandparents or parents, and the doctors are talking about the process, and none of them understand. Let’s talk about how careful we have to be installing a refrigeration unit because no one here knows what electricity is. Or perhaps you’re impressed with power. Tell me: how many imperial governors have you met before you arrived here.”
“You seem awfully proud of your position.”
“Is that what you think? My point is this: you have significant attention, attention you’ve never had before. How does it feel?”
“I don’t know,” Pippa admitted. “I want to know their curriculum.”
“And I want you to learn fluent Talmonese so they can explain it themselves,” Cecilia countered.
“I’m not remotely qualified to do what you want,” Pippa said. “You’re trying to solve an education problem across an entire planet.”
“That does represent a logistical problem,” Cecilia agreed. “But we have to start somewhere, and we’re not going to start with the entire planet. We’re going to start by teaching the people who will become the teachers, and we’ll go from there.”
“You’re talking decades.”
“Why, so I am,” Cecilia said brightly. “We have to start somewhere. Do you have a better idea?”
“Yes,” Pippa said. “Lunch.”
Cecilia laughed. “That sounds like an excellent suggestion.”
* * * *
Lunch, it turned out, was with the vendart and his family. Luradinine was there as well. Halfway through the meal, Cecilia said, “Tell me about these dance clubs on Tarriton.”
“Oh, you think so?” Tranquility said. “More bribery?”
“Maddalyn suggested the three of you would enjoy opening your own club,” Cecilia said. “Was she mistaken?”
My friends eyed each other. “We talked about it,” Pippa said. “I’d never thought about it. We talked before deciding to come.”
“And?”
“And we decided you sounded awfully serious about getting us here, so we thought we’d check things out,” Tranquility said. “I’m not sure a club would work.”
“Why not?” I asked. “I think it would be fun.”
“The clubs on Tarriton are all at least five stories,” she said. “This is the biggest building we’ve seen, and it’s only three. I bet it took forever to build, and I bet the vendart doesn’t want a building towering over his.”
“So don’t copy the design from Tarriton,” Cecilia said. “Make it your own way.”
“I still don’t think it would work.”
“Why not?” I asked again.
“Population.”
“Ah, you’re thinking in economic terms,” Cecilia said.
“We’d have to buy the land and build,” Tranquility said. “I don’t know what that would cost, but it would be expensive. Furnishings. Hire and train staff. Clubs like that are owned and operated by professionals. I don’t think we have a clue how to make it work. We’d be out of business in six months.”
“Ah,” said Baardorid. “I believe you are thinking about how things are done on Tarriton.”
“And they’re different here?”
“Of course,” he said. “There are necessities of life. Food. Clothing. Shelter. In our early years, we scrambled to provide those, and even now, a significant portion of our society is devoted to the basic needs. This dance hall would clearly be a luxury.”
“A luxury you can’t support.”
“That’s not at all true,” he said. “You need a building. You don’t know how to make one, but there are people here who do.”
“People who want to be paid.”
He smiled. “If this group decides to produce a building, we will produce a building. That isn’t the concern. The concerns are this? Where should this building be? How big should it be? How should it be organized?”
“A double hub and spokes arrangement,” I blurted. Everyone turned to me. “On Tarriton, it’s like this. You have a floor.” I held my hand in the air a little above the table. “There are rooms off of it.” I used my other hand to indicate different points arranged around my first hand. “Each room is devoted to a different style. This room is for individual couples. This is for two couples together.”
“But there are five floors,” Pippa said.
“Yes. The top floor is for learning.” I held my hand as high as I could. “That is the equivalent of how we started. Let’s count from the top and call that first floor. Second floor is for dancing, people of all levels, but casual.” I lowered my hand. “The third floor is for the very skilled dancers.”
“I’ve never danced on that floor,” Pippa said. “But there are places to sit and watch the best dancers.”
“You could,” Tranquility said.
“I’m not that confident,” Pippa replied.
“The fourth floor, one from the bottom, is for the untamed version,” I said.
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“And the bottom floor?” Valtine asked.
“That is the entrance hall. You can check your things like you do when going to the baths here. Some people have special shoes for dancing. There are rooms to change clothes, if you want.”
“And so you said a double hub and spokes.”
“Right. Each floor is like a wheel. The center is open, so you can see from the entrance hall all the way up. And there is a corridor leading away to the different rooms. So it is like the spokes of a wheel.”
“Oh, I see.”
“We could change it. We could enter through a long hall into the center. That is the entrance hall. And then there could be more passages in different directions, and at the end of each, a hub. And from each hub, more passages to each of the different rooms. It would be a big building, but not a tall building.”
“If you made it two floors, it would be half as large,” Valtine suggested. “Does it have to resemble a wheel? You could have several rooms on this side, several rooms on that side. That’s just like four floors but in an easier shape.
“It would be different,” I said. I laughed. “I was thinking in Frantzland terms. I was thinking of tunneling through rock and then making a large room.” I laughed again. “Oops.” I turned to look at Tranquility and cocked my head.
“Maybe,” she said slowly. Then I watched her figure it out in her head, using her hands. “Okay. A long building. You enter here.”
“From your breasts,” Serenity said. “I like it already.”
“Yes,” Tranquility said sarcastically. “People will slide down my breasts onto the table. Shut up, Sis.” Serenity laughed. You step into a big hall. It’s open all the way to the roof. There are staircases, like this.” She indicated stairs at both ends, with a bend to turn left and right besides, so in a way, four sets of stairs. “A railing here.” She indicated the second floor. “With tables so you could sit and relax here, if you want. You don’t need four rooms for the games. You have to decide if you want two or just one.”
“What do you mean?”
“One of the rooms is for the games I mentioned,” I said. “Why only one?”
“Well, I’m not sure, but I don’t know if they’d want the untamed game room. I don’t know if you’d get enough people to make good games. So maybe you have one. You can have a room on second floor at the end for learning. People could practice all the styles in that room. You don’t need separate rooms. On the first floor, you could have the game room, immediately below it.” She gestured.
“All right,” Valtine said. “And the other rooms?”
“You also won’t have enough professional dancers to populate an entire floor worth of rooms. Your really good dancers should dance with the other people. It’s not like this is going to be a tourist destination for tournaments or something, at least not any time soon. So you only need tame and untamed. Two rooms on each floor on either side of the central hall, and maybe with a walkway at the middle so people don’t have to walk all the way around.
“What about a lounge?” I asked.
“Seating in most of the rooms and along here, and people can either go to a bar, maybe here at the top of the stairs, or we can have wait staff working through the room.” She paused. “You’re not going to get that many people dancing the untamed style. Maybe you don’t need that many rooms for that.” She looked into the air for a moment then refocused. “A training room. Three rooms for dancing the three styles. One or maybe two rooms for the untamed style, and a games room.”
“Which should be fairly big,” I said. “With little side rooms to get people ready.”
Then Tranquility sighed. “This is silly.”
“Why?” Baardorid said.
“She doesn’t think there are enough people on all of Talmon to make this successful,” I said. “And she’s thinking about the cost to operate, and the technology involved.” I turned to Tranquility. “You’re assuming the club needs to bring in a certain amount of money to pay off a mortgage and make gobs of money. This club wouldn’t need to. It could be open just one or two nights a week, and it would be a major event each time.” I turned to look at Cecilia. “What if it were also a restaurant, open until a certain time, and then turned over into a dance hall into the evening. We could find one of the existing restaurant families that wants to expand, and we could build out a modern facility.”
“Baardorid,” Cecilia said. “How do you feel about that plan?”
“Why are you asking him?” Luradinine said. “Maybe you should be talking to Beacon Hill Vendart.”
“Or split the difference and talk to Fessen,” Sartine said with a glint. Baardorid and Luradinine both made faces.
“Perhaps,” Valtine said, “we should start simply by sharing this style with the people of Talmon.” She smiled. “I would like to host several events here during the following weeks. It will be warm soon, and we can move outside.”
“You can’t really dance on the green,” Pippa said.
“Have you ever heard of a barn dance?” Valtine replied.
“No.”
“I haven’t heard how Beacon Hill is to be included,” Luradinine said.
“Perhaps,” I said, “this group could dance here as often as Valtine invites us, but we can also fly up to Beacon Hill. The local vendarti are meeting at the rejuvenation center for one or two days beginning the day after tomorrow. Valtine, would you like to host a dance that evening?”
“I think I would.”
“Our plan is to spend several more days here, and then several days in Beacon Hill. Then I must resume my duties at least part time and will return to Indartha. The four of you will have choices. You could go to Indartha or accept any of countless other offers. We can discuss that in a few more days.”
“I would like everyone to come to Indartha soon,” Sartine said. “It is beautiful in winter. Tranquility and Serenity, will you come and teach my village this dance?”
“Of course, Sartine,” Serenity answered.
And we had a plan, at least for the next few weeks.
Vendarti
A total of twelve vendarti gathered at the rejuvenation center two days later. Tranquility and Serenity were busy overseeing Yessamartain processing into the rejuvenation tanks. I needed my staff, but I’d arranged for Mother and Pippa to spend the day with Masalarn’s family, and I knew they’d see a side of Sudden I couldn’t show them, even if there were language difficulties.
Malaratine's Cove Vendart was unable to make the event, but Tressalarine arrived with Luradinine, flown by Kalorain.
Cecilia called the meeting to order, but then admitted, “I’m not sure why Maddalyn wanted this meeting. Maddalyn?”
“I have two things,” I said. “I’m going to throw an idea out for the vendarti to discuss later, then I have something to show you.” I looked around. “Gathering all the vendarti is a difficult task. There are times we have to set aside a topic, because it is a decision for the entire planet, and so we wait until we gather for the next Congress. And so I want the vendarti to think about this and decide how they feel.”
I paced for a moment. “Several months ago, Governor Grace expressed despair at the realization that many Talmonese would die before we could bring enough rejuvenation pods to fill the need.”
“I remember,” said Cecilia.
“I reminded her of something. I asked a question. I asked how many people die each year due to farming accidents.”
“You mentioned other mishaps,” Sartine said.
“I did, but today I want to talk about farming mishaps.” I looked around. “I don’t know the answer to my question. So I want to throw this out for the vendarti here. How many people die or are severely maimed due to farming mishaps? And how many people don’t get enough food because farming is such hard, hard work?”
Then I stepped back and let them talk about it. The vendarti admitted I made good points, but ultimately asked me, “But what can we do? We must farm.”
; “Du schlauer Fuchs,” Cecilia said. You sly fox.
I moved back to the center. I made sure Mordain was ready, then I said, “Rejuvenation pods are exceedingly expensive,” I said. “We have sixteen and need two thousand. Frantzland has one pod for about every 175 people. This allows us to undergo rejuvenation every five to seven years. No one grows old. But they are very expensive, and we do not know how quickly we will gain more.”
I turned around. “I have something to show you. Most of us know Chaladine, Sudden Vendart’s daughter. She is now on Centos Four, the home world of our governor’s family. There, she is learning the things the empire can teach her so she can come back and help our home here. She sent something for us.”
Then Mordain began the hologram. Above me, larger than life, Chaladine appeared. There was a gasp from more than one voice. I was already moving, and I set my hand on Luradinine’s shoulder and whispered, “I’m sorry for this.”
“It’s fine,” she said.
Chaladine smiled at us and then said, “Hello from Centos Four. I am Chaladine, Sudden Vendart’s daughter. Maddalyn asked me to learn about something and share it, and Savannah told me about this amazing technology. I understand you can all see me as if I am really there.”
Then the image moved out, and we saw she was outside. The image zoomed further, rising into the air, and soon it was apparent she was on a farm, a Centos Four farm. I wondered if everyone else would recognize it for what it was.
“This is a farm,” Chaladine said. “When I asked Savannah to bring me to one, I didn’t know what to expect.” Her image gestured. “The people who work this farm live in that house. I don't know if you can see it.” We could. “These other buildings are referred to as outbuildings.” She used the English word for that. She pointed. “Those two large buildings are used to store equipment. That one is used to process the grains and other foods before sending them other places. And that small building is the control center. We’ll visit that in a while.”
The image shifted, and we saw the same farm from much, much higher. “This is one farm,” Chaladine said. “This family farms all the land you can see, about twelve square kilometers in total.”
