Outward Borne (21 page)

It looked toward the far wall; I could see its
mouth move but did not hear its voice until a moment later. “Why
should I talk? You are one of them and I will not speak to any of
you.” It, she I suppose, looked so tired and sad; she seemed to
droop with a heavy weight of troubles.

“
No, you are
mistaken, I am not one of those
(here
follows an untranslatable expression in colloquial Saxon)
and I do not speak for them either. My people
were taken captive thirty-five years ago and have been confined on
this ship since that time.”

“
Thirty-five years! That is as
nothing. We have been here thirty-five generations or longer, so
long that we have no memory of where we have come from.”

As long as that, I was shocked. “We would have
little hope of ever returning home if species were kept for such a
long time.”

“
Return, hoawh, no returns, only
disposal, that may happen if they lose interest, never returns, too
much trouble, expensive, not worth it.”

This shocked me. In spite of
everything, I had kept hope of returning to Earth at some point.
Instead of helping that creature, I was likely to become as
depressed as it was.

“
Why are you talking to me? Am I
some freak to amuse you?”

“
No, I mean you look different,
but I would look even stranger to you, I am sure. An ObLaDa asked
me, his name was RaLak5, at least he said that it was, and he said
that he was the new Captain, and that all the Das now wanted to
provide a better life for the aliens that are on the ship. He
claimed that they did not know what to do to help you. It may not
be true, but we should at least try to take some advantage of their
talk.”

“
You are just a voice to me. I
want to see you, if you are real.”

“
Well then, I will ask that a
screen be set up for you. Then we can talk some more.” My sprits
were very low after the meeting with the Nivinwa. It just lay there
on the floor, seeming to have so little interest in talking to me,
or anything. Meeting an alien species should be so exciting, but it
seemed not to care. I wanted to continue, however, and asked for a
two-way picture to be set up.

The picture system was installed
overnight. I suspect the Das were expert at setting up spying
equipment. I was quite nervous, my appearance was as good as I
could make it, with a clean new dress Gunhild had made for me, my
hair was well brushed and I tried to smile. When all was ready, I
sat in the chair and signaled for the picture.

The Nivinwa was lying in the same corner
looking toward me. For some considerable time neither of us moved
or said anything, still nervous, I stood and started pacing across
the room, when she asked. “Is that your skin all flapping around
like that?”

“
No this is my dress, it is just a
covering that my friend made for me.” Before I could explain any
further, she told me to take it off so she could see how I was
made. Of course, I was reluctant to take off my clothes, but it was
hardly a time to be shy. With the dress folded on the table, I
walked about. The Nivinwa stood up to look more closely. “Now why
do not you fall over, how can you stand upright with only two
legs?”

“
Oh, standing on two legs is easy
enough, balancing on one is something I can’t quite do.”

“
Never have I seen such a marvel,
you are all jerky, but still it is extraordinary to be so tall and
upright.”

“
Jerky! I am not so awkward as
that. I suspect I could still do a decent dance,” and did so. Our
dances consisted mostly of leg bending and fast stomping may have
looked even more inelegant than my posing for the Nivinwa. I am
afraid that she was not impressed.

“
Hoawh, what is that on you head,
take that off as well.”

“
This is my hair, it belongs
there, does not come off at all. Let me show you.” I removed my
clasp to let my hair fall free.

“
What is it for,” the Nivinwa
asked.

I laughed, not knowing what say to
that question, though it was clear that she found hair as strange
as having only two legs. “We have hair only on our heads, well
almost only, but many animals on our planet have fur all over their
bodies. Do you have any pets? It keeps them warm in winters. We
have dogs. My Lowulf is a most hairy beast.” There followed an
extended discussion of pets, fur, winter, the whole concept of
cold, which was hard to explain to a being that had spent its life
in temperature-controlled rooms, and ended with a request to see
Lowulf.

“
Wait a moment. I suspect he is
lying just outside the door protecting the entryway. He thinks it
is his job, you know.” Lowulf was as sure in his habits as any
nine-year-old dog would have them. I called him and he came in with
a bound and landed with his paws on my shoulder and a kiss on my
face. “See, he is almost as big as I am.” I could not help but
think on my old Loboc, his great granddad, he was even bigger.
“Up,” I said, and Lowulf sprang onto the table, almost knocking it
over. I rubbed my hands through his shaggy coat to show how soft he
was. It made me sad, though, my first Loboc, my childhood friend,
he was never soft or even clean. His fur was rough, matted and
crusted with dirt. He fought off marauding dogs and kept wolves
away, that was a tougher place and he was tougher than
anything.

“
Hup, he looks better than you
even with all that fuzz; at least he will not topple over at any
moment. Why does he not say something?”

“
I agree, he is most handsome,
but, no, dogs cannot talk, only bark. “Wolff, wolf, Lowulf,” I
called.”

“
I cannot hear that, have them
allow us to hear each other as we are.”

Whatever was listening immediately
disabled the computer connection and put through direct audio. The
Nivinwa sounded like a dozen cats yowling in the night. Lowulf’s
ears popped up. He looked intently at the Nivinwa for a moment, and
then started to howl.

The Nivinwa looked as if it was convulsing. It
was laughing I suppose. It was delighted by Lowulf’s noise. Those
two hurt my ears with all their squalling.

It was Lowulf that made the
Nivinwa accept me as a real person rather than an ObLaDa construct.
No one could have planned Lowulf’s howling with the Nivinwa, or his
joy at the attention he received. I put Lowulf outside and we
talked some more about my life in the villages and the sea. She
seemed most interested in our life before the Outward
Voyager.

Lowulf and I returned to my rooms,
the experience made me quite tired, exhausted really, but I could
not rest. At first I did not realize what had happened, perhaps
because it was not anything we said, but later, lying on my bed
thinking, I realized that the Nivinwa had shown an interest in me,
or at least Lowulf, she had stirred herself, become more attentive.
I was very hopeful.

The following day RaLak5 contacted
me again. He asked if I had learned anything helpful. “Not much,” I
said, “we are just becoming acquainted.” He did not seem to
understand, never having met anyone he had not known all his life,
but I did not offer to explain.

“
Do you have records of the
Nivinwa, records of their home planet or capture?”

“
Yes, I am sure we must. We keep
records of everything, although they have been here for a long
time, I think.”

“
Have the Nivinwa ever seen them,
or have a copy of them?”

“
No copy, certainly, and no access
recently, or even in the past, I would suspect. Why do you
ask?”

“
Could I see them? It may be
helpful.”

“
I could have them retrieved, if
you think it would be of value, but there are surely going to be a
large number of files, pretty dull work most likely.”

RaLak5 followed through with his
promise and the next day I had a screen filled with records of the
Nivinwa capture. He was right about the volume of material. There
were many days worth of images to go through. The same events were
captured from different locations; many showed a fixed scene
without the slightest activity. Even so, there were some good
images, pictures of the Nivinwa and their surroundings, and I spent
the better part of the week sorting through the
material.

Eventually, Childeric came
knocking at my door. I had been noticeably absent, he said. It may
not have been allowed, but I told him what I was doing. He was
quite interested, of course, amazed that there were aliens on the
ship. Even when I told him we would not be allowed to interact with
the Nivinwa, he still wanted to help, and we got started clipping
together images of their habitat and any action pictures of them in
their homes or being captured.

The images were not very clear
most of the time, but it seemed that they lived in large open
structures with walls covered with colors and images. Banners hung
from the curved ceilings. They had many other things, stacks of
thin sheets like folded cloth, very long. We did not know what
these were. They ate things alive, long thin things, like snakes
with stumpy legs. Even after they bit through it, the thing
wriggled around. They seemed to like it better if it was still
moving. It almost made me sick to see them go at it. More
favorably, they also seemed to have musical instruments and to
sing, though it sounded like yowls to us. It was all so different
from the dirty, stained room that I saw. Their planet seemed to
have pink skies and predominantly dark red plants that grew in
profusion.

After collecting maybe twelve
hours worth of material and looking at it all together, I began to
have some doubts. Should I show this to them? Would it cause anger,
frustration? Childeric thought that they should like to see their
history, it would at least stir them up, even if it did no more
than make them angry. I was not so sure. It would be frustrating
perhaps, if they saw this and could do nothing about it, but
Childeric was thinking ahead.

“
If we had paints prepared and
some musical instruments, something like those in the images, it
might create an interest and they could do something to follow
on.”

It was just the thing, and I was
very grateful to Childeric for being so thoughtful. I did not know
if it would have any effect on the Nivinwa, get them interested or
even involved enough to use the paints or explore the instruments,
but what was there but to try?

Of course, we had the convince
RaLak5 and obtain his help. The Das needed to make the paints and
the materials for the instruments. I was not sure that he could be
convinced, as the ObLaDas had no color vision and not the least
interest in music. He may see no value in any of these things, but
I put the proposal to him. I was never convinced that he had the
slightest hope that they would work, but he did offer to help and
put us in contact with NorHan Si, who was a true character, much to
my surprise. I did not expect any such ObLaDa could exist in the
sealed world that they had created.

NorHan Si, who was related in some
way to the cloned NorHan NorBa, was in charge of materials on the
Outward. After waiting a short time, her voice came on in a rush.
“So sorry for being late, I cannot believe that I could be any help
with the poor Nivinwa, it is so sad isn’t it, so pleased to be
here, simple old me, all these clever sorts, read all the reports
about you, well, now here I am.”

I was taken aback by her energy,
so different from the composed manner of RaLak5, but I explained
our ideas and asked if she could make paint and materials, like
brushes.

“
Let me look, oh yes, we have many
paints, very protective, there is a large record of paints, but
colors, no. I understand wavelengths, different energy absorption
of emitted wavelengths, but it is all gray to me of
course.”

“
The key, I think are pigments, if
you could make different colored pigments, having different but
narrow wavelength absorption spectra, they could be mixed with wax,
or other carriers, to make some type of paint. The Nivinwa can do
the rest,” I added hopefully. “And Childeric would try to make some
instruments, something that looked like the ones in the images. He
would need some materials, if we could ask these of you as well.”
NorHan Si willingly agreed and promised to have some pigments and
other supplies within five days.

I could not decide if it would be
helpful to show the pictures to my Nivinwa, so I decided to put the
question to her. She could decide for herself, one way, or another.
When we met on the following day, the Nivinwa asked where I had
been for we last met more than a week ago. I explained at some
length that the Das had kept records of their visit to Nivinwa and
of the surveillance and capture of her long ago ancestors. There
were images of her home planet, some people, homes, but it was not
very complete. I offered to give to her what we had found. Would
she wish to see it, show it to others of her kind? At first, she
did not acknowledge my question and took a considerable time
considering what to do, but at last agreed to look at the pictures.
There were many hours of material, much of it uneventful, but
Childeric had put together an hours worth of highlights. This is
what I showed her on that first day. The Nivinwa watched the
pictures in silence and when it was over, she left the room without
comment. Whatever reaction I expected, well, I expected a reaction.
I was disappointed. I could not see what had been wrong; maybe it
was too much after so long a time.