I'm slightly disappointed. I though we were going to see a sunrise a couple hours ago, but it turns out that this time of day is just called "sunrise" (cex keltax) because this is about the time that the sun (or rather, Cex, hyekh, Jed's "sun") usually rises at their sort of prime meridian, which on Jed is actually the point on the planet where Coaxta appears directly overhead -- Xala don't believe in time zones. We're a few degrees off, and with the incredible slowness of this damp planet those few degrees of latitude translate to the sun rising a couple of Earth days later.
But, we are going to be going east later on, so the yela'kaja suggested we might run into the sun a little early if we get the tour going a little quicker. The Ngana don't seem to mind so much, though they were looking forward to sunrise two. As far as I know, the Kesata are completely indifferent. The yela'kaja said this particular delegation had been here before and they are no longer very impressed by some of the natural phenomena on the planet. I keep saying planet, even though Jed is a moon -- but its so hard to call the place a moon when its just as solid under your feet as the Earth is. And I mean that in a very literal way -- I have detected no difference in gravity here. The yela'kaja says it's very slightly lower than Earth-normal, but I don't feel it at all.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Mining the Crystal Fountains
We've seen the mine now, apparently the detour wasn't very far or it would have taken much longer. Our transport docked in a cylindrical station off the main part of the mine and we were ferried around on levitating pallets. (The mines aren't very accessible to what the Xala call tôkleka, or "wingless kaja", so they usually improvise for tours.)
The whole facility is controlled from a large ring that is built onto this giant chamber where they collect the crystals. There are dozens of little stations all around the ring. According to the yela'kaja, the raw "crystal" is actually some sort of gas or plasma that breaks out of the ground and spews up like a geyser, which is why they translate their term for the effect, tyaxad (kyah-khaz), as "fountain". Dozens of control stations are used to regulate the flow of the raw crystal.
The Ŋãna were all over the control stations. Since the station wasn't active at the moment (the fountain wasn't "erupting") we were allowed to get up close to the control system, even activate them to see the displays (with the help of my earpiece for myself, and a special collar for each of the Ngana). According to the Yela'kaja, there are a number of packs maintaining the mines that move around as different fountains erupt, so this one was mostly empty with just a skeleton crew to monitor the whole thing encase something happened unexpectedly.
The Kesata didn't seem much interested in all that. They kept up talking amongst themselves with their wild motions and all those bright colors. I think that some humans would have seizures if they had to watch Kesata talk all day. While their waving their arms around singing to each other, all these patterns and colors just wash over their bodies. Sometimes it looks really psychedelic. My yela'kaja seems to like it, though. He said he once saw a Kesata play while he was getting some "language and culture" training on their planet. Apparently on their homeworld they have massive ampitheatres underwater where they perform these odd dancing plays -- like a ballet without music. He told me he'd show me one when we're done with the tour of Jed. I didn't want to refuse, so I just took a bite out of one of those Jed powerbars and nodded. That's a while in the future, so maybe travelling with the Kesata will get me used to the flashing colors.
Anyway, after a quick pass through the ring, we entered the collection chamber through a maintenance hole. We hovered a while on pallets while the yela'kaja showed us the deep, narrow shaft, and the light at the bottom of it where the fountain is warming up for its next eruption. I was a bit woozy looking down there, and it looked like a couple Kesata were about to fall off the pallet. The Ngana didn't mind though, but then they live in tall trees.
Finally, the Kesata were taken to see the specific equipment that they were there to look at. Their yela'kaja offered to take me and the Ngana along, but I decided I'd go back to the transport, and the Ngana were in agreement, though for different reasons. I needed to recover from hanging in midair over a nearly bottomless pit, while they were more concerned about getting to their poles and swinging around and exercise their muscles that had fallen asleep while they stood so long on the little pallets being hauled around, according to my yela'kaja.
Ah, well. I'm not sure where we'll be going next. I think the Jed sunrise is coming up soon, and the yela'kaja told me a lot of kaja like to watch a sunrise or an eclipse while they're here. Me, I'm not so sentimental, but it'll be good to have some change in the sky. It's still a bit unnerving the way that great massive planet takes up so much of it.
The whole facility is controlled from a large ring that is built onto this giant chamber where they collect the crystals. There are dozens of little stations all around the ring. According to the yela'kaja, the raw "crystal" is actually some sort of gas or plasma that breaks out of the ground and spews up like a geyser, which is why they translate their term for the effect, tyaxad (kyah-khaz), as "fountain". Dozens of control stations are used to regulate the flow of the raw crystal.
The Ŋãna were all over the control stations. Since the station wasn't active at the moment (the fountain wasn't "erupting") we were allowed to get up close to the control system, even activate them to see the displays (with the help of my earpiece for myself, and a special collar for each of the Ngana). According to the Yela'kaja, there are a number of packs maintaining the mines that move around as different fountains erupt, so this one was mostly empty with just a skeleton crew to monitor the whole thing encase something happened unexpectedly.
The Kesata didn't seem much interested in all that. They kept up talking amongst themselves with their wild motions and all those bright colors. I think that some humans would have seizures if they had to watch Kesata talk all day. While their waving their arms around singing to each other, all these patterns and colors just wash over their bodies. Sometimes it looks really psychedelic. My yela'kaja seems to like it, though. He said he once saw a Kesata play while he was getting some "language and culture" training on their planet. Apparently on their homeworld they have massive ampitheatres underwater where they perform these odd dancing plays -- like a ballet without music. He told me he'd show me one when we're done with the tour of Jed. I didn't want to refuse, so I just took a bite out of one of those Jed powerbars and nodded. That's a while in the future, so maybe travelling with the Kesata will get me used to the flashing colors.
Anyway, after a quick pass through the ring, we entered the collection chamber through a maintenance hole. We hovered a while on pallets while the yela'kaja showed us the deep, narrow shaft, and the light at the bottom of it where the fountain is warming up for its next eruption. I was a bit woozy looking down there, and it looked like a couple Kesata were about to fall off the pallet. The Ngana didn't mind though, but then they live in tall trees.
Finally, the Kesata were taken to see the specific equipment that they were there to look at. Their yela'kaja offered to take me and the Ngana along, but I decided I'd go back to the transport, and the Ngana were in agreement, though for different reasons. I needed to recover from hanging in midair over a nearly bottomless pit, while they were more concerned about getting to their poles and swinging around and exercise their muscles that had fallen asleep while they stood so long on the little pallets being hauled around, according to my yela'kaja.
Ah, well. I'm not sure where we'll be going next. I think the Jed sunrise is coming up soon, and the yela'kaja told me a lot of kaja like to watch a sunrise or an eclipse while they're here. Me, I'm not so sentimental, but it'll be good to have some change in the sky. It's still a bit unnerving the way that great massive planet takes up so much of it.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
How the Xala Make Chicks -- Without Making Love
We just came back from touring the hatching center. Such a crazy place! Hatching centers come in two parts. The important part, where the little Xala chicks go from mini cell to egg to hatchling is underground. According to my yela'kaja (and I assume the Ngana yela'kaja is saying the same) it's a security precaution. Eggs and hatchlings are very vulnerable, and an underground facility is easier to lock down than a flying one. We never actually got to see the flying part of the place, which is mostly just for training the older chicks in basic skills, especially flight. We were told that there was some training going on up there and it would be best not to disturb the young ones.
The first level (that is the top one) has the actual hatchlings running around. They're kinda cute little chicks, but you've got to be careful. One of the Ngana didn't pay much attention to the warnings he was given and started playing with one of the chicks. He had fun for a while, letting the chick bluster and spread its wings, but when he tried to catch the little guy he got a nasty bite. Some of the Xala working there -- the ones that look over the hatchlings are called roa'gogo, egg-tenders -- took him away to get fixed up. We were told that a hatchling's bite wasn't as bad as an adult's, but all Xala pack some serious bacteria in their mouths that some other races can't handle, so it's best to avoid getting bit, or to clean it up real good if you do.
The next level has the incubators. They don't actually look all that remarkable. Little metal boxes, heated from underneath by a little electrical heater. It's probably the first device here I've seen that wasn't entirely operated with crystals.
According to the yela'kaja, incubators are kept at different temperatures to promote different traits. Apparently, when Xala still did things the natural way, their sex was determined by the temperature of the egg. But now most don't have genitalia, so they are just going for masculine or feminine traits. It's kinda odd what's "masculine" and what's "feminine" to a Xala. The feminine traits include higher intelligence, greater agility, and more physical strength. The big burly guys that hauled the pallets of my equipment were "feminine", and so are the yela'kajas and the roa'gogos. "Masculine" Xala are usually weak and take submissive roles that don't require great strength or a wide range of knowledge. The "janitors" and the pilots on our transport are "masculine".
Of course, it's a lot more complicated than that. Obviously the guys hauling those pallets around don't need to be so smart, so they're engineered so that their brains don't develop as quickly. Yela'kajas don't need lots of muscle (in fact, they tell me it can be a liability) so their engineered not to grow as bulky a build?
Understand so far? I hope so. It took me a lot to get that much figured out to write on paper, but I'm a reporter here. I gotta do these things.
The biggest question, of course, is where the eggs come from in the first place. According to the yela'kaja, there are two more levels -- where kaja aren't allowed -- with samples of all the cloning lines (or castes, as they sometimes call them) in storage, ready for DNA to be transferred and embryos to be produced. Roa'gogo are rare among Xala in that they really do have a sex, or at least the necessary organs. They are designed to have active ovaries, where other Xala have ineffective sex organs if they have any at all, so that embryos can be implanted and grow into eggs, which are later laid either directly into an incubator or into one of the stasis chambers on one of the lower levels. Don't ask me why they store eggs in stasis -- sounds like trouble to me -- but the fact that they won't let us down there makes me suspect that there's some stuff going on with the genetic engineering and those suspended eggs that they'd rather not let us know about.
Anyway, we're headed out to the crystal mine next. The Kesata opted out of this tour, but I hear that their fishy smell will be with us in the next one. I hear that the mine we're going to has some new equipment that the Kesata want to check out before they agree to let Xala use it on their planet. I don't know what that is, but apparently we'll find out.
The first level (that is the top one) has the actual hatchlings running around. They're kinda cute little chicks, but you've got to be careful. One of the Ngana didn't pay much attention to the warnings he was given and started playing with one of the chicks. He had fun for a while, letting the chick bluster and spread its wings, but when he tried to catch the little guy he got a nasty bite. Some of the Xala working there -- the ones that look over the hatchlings are called roa'gogo, egg-tenders -- took him away to get fixed up. We were told that a hatchling's bite wasn't as bad as an adult's, but all Xala pack some serious bacteria in their mouths that some other races can't handle, so it's best to avoid getting bit, or to clean it up real good if you do.
The next level has the incubators. They don't actually look all that remarkable. Little metal boxes, heated from underneath by a little electrical heater. It's probably the first device here I've seen that wasn't entirely operated with crystals.
According to the yela'kaja, incubators are kept at different temperatures to promote different traits. Apparently, when Xala still did things the natural way, their sex was determined by the temperature of the egg. But now most don't have genitalia, so they are just going for masculine or feminine traits. It's kinda odd what's "masculine" and what's "feminine" to a Xala. The feminine traits include higher intelligence, greater agility, and more physical strength. The big burly guys that hauled the pallets of my equipment were "feminine", and so are the yela'kajas and the roa'gogos. "Masculine" Xala are usually weak and take submissive roles that don't require great strength or a wide range of knowledge. The "janitors" and the pilots on our transport are "masculine".
Of course, it's a lot more complicated than that. Obviously the guys hauling those pallets around don't need to be so smart, so they're engineered so that their brains don't develop as quickly. Yela'kajas don't need lots of muscle (in fact, they tell me it can be a liability) so their engineered not to grow as bulky a build?
Understand so far? I hope so. It took me a lot to get that much figured out to write on paper, but I'm a reporter here. I gotta do these things.
The biggest question, of course, is where the eggs come from in the first place. According to the yela'kaja, there are two more levels -- where kaja aren't allowed -- with samples of all the cloning lines (or castes, as they sometimes call them) in storage, ready for DNA to be transferred and embryos to be produced. Roa'gogo are rare among Xala in that they really do have a sex, or at least the necessary organs. They are designed to have active ovaries, where other Xala have ineffective sex organs if they have any at all, so that embryos can be implanted and grow into eggs, which are later laid either directly into an incubator or into one of the stasis chambers on one of the lower levels. Don't ask me why they store eggs in stasis -- sounds like trouble to me -- but the fact that they won't let us down there makes me suspect that there's some stuff going on with the genetic engineering and those suspended eggs that they'd rather not let us know about.
Anyway, we're headed out to the crystal mine next. The Kesata opted out of this tour, but I hear that their fishy smell will be with us in the next one. I hear that the mine we're going to has some new equipment that the Kesata want to check out before they agree to let Xala use it on their planet. I don't know what that is, but apparently we'll find out.
Seeing the Planet with the Monkey Cats
These transports are much slower than I expected. Apparently, the Xala don't really care to go any faster than is necessary, so their transports often float along slower than a Xala on the wing! My yela'kaja has assured me that we could go much faster in case of an emergency, but that otherwise we'll be keeping a very steady pace. Apparently Xala have infinite patience, and continually overestimate my own patience. He tells me, "We have chosen this route so that you and the other delegations can see some of the planet as you make your way to the next port."
We're certainly "seeing the planet". So far we've mostly been over forests. Though we have seen lots of housing units floating around. And we saw a crystal mine up in the hills here. It's a ground unit, massive chink of metal sitting over what the Xala call a "fountain", collecting raw crystals to be refined and processed. We're going to visit one later on -- one that's not actively working. Apparently it's too dangerous to take kaja down there while the crystals are being taken out. Something about radiation and that.
We take little swoops now and then to see interesting bits of wildlife, like a creature in the trees that looks like a giant flower. My yela'kaja tells me it's some sort of carnivorous plant that lures scavengers with the scent of carrion. This one apparently wasn't hungry that day, as it was laying out flat, with bright red petals. Not exactly the least conspicuous thing here.
Though the trees themselves are taking a reddish hue. The yela'kaja tells me that they go through a cycle every coaxrota where they get redder and redder until sunrise, and then go back to a sort of green-yellow after it sets. He says it protects them from the sudden increase in light.
Anyway, I've been hanging out with the Ŋãna most of the time. Really friendly people. I kinda enjoy being around them, even with the language barrier. Our yela'kajas take care of that. They work as a team, the one in human form translating Ŋãna to English and the one in Ŋãna form translating English to Ŋãna. I don't know how the other yela'kaja learned English so quick, though I suppose they have some special device for that. I won't ask for that thing; my brain might explode.
Ŋãna laugh a lot. They seem to enjoy the same kinds of jokes as humans. When they asked what my planet was called and I replied "Earth", there was a great hoopla. After a few moments confusion the human-form yela'kaja seemed to figure things out and tried to explain. "It seems that the name of your planet sounds similar to a Ŋãna word. I'm not sure how to translate it." Then he got into about a five minute discussion with the other yela'kaja in Xala, after which he must have been searching through the dictionary in his earpiece for the right word. "It is a reproductive process. I believe the word is . . . 'sex'?"
I laughed then, but not just at the Ŋãna. I fired right back at the yela'kaja. "Man, if I were to learn another language, that would be one of the first words I'd learn. How'd it take you so long to translate it?"
That, of course, was the wrong question to ask. It led to a thirty minute discussion about how Xala, most of them anyway, don't have sex, and don't reproduce naturally. They're all genetically-engineered clones, grown in special centers and all designed for their specific jobs; which explains why yela'kajas can just take some hair off your head and transform into your species. Then came an offer to detour the trip to one of the hatching centers. I didn't want to go, but Ŋãna are all for it, so we're taking a little detour.
We're certainly "seeing the planet". So far we've mostly been over forests. Though we have seen lots of housing units floating around. And we saw a crystal mine up in the hills here. It's a ground unit, massive chink of metal sitting over what the Xala call a "fountain", collecting raw crystals to be refined and processed. We're going to visit one later on -- one that's not actively working. Apparently it's too dangerous to take kaja down there while the crystals are being taken out. Something about radiation and that.
We take little swoops now and then to see interesting bits of wildlife, like a creature in the trees that looks like a giant flower. My yela'kaja tells me it's some sort of carnivorous plant that lures scavengers with the scent of carrion. This one apparently wasn't hungry that day, as it was laying out flat, with bright red petals. Not exactly the least conspicuous thing here.
Though the trees themselves are taking a reddish hue. The yela'kaja tells me that they go through a cycle every coaxrota where they get redder and redder until sunrise, and then go back to a sort of green-yellow after it sets. He says it protects them from the sudden increase in light.
Anyway, I've been hanging out with the Ŋãna most of the time. Really friendly people. I kinda enjoy being around them, even with the language barrier. Our yela'kajas take care of that. They work as a team, the one in human form translating Ŋãna to English and the one in Ŋãna form translating English to Ŋãna. I don't know how the other yela'kaja learned English so quick, though I suppose they have some special device for that. I won't ask for that thing; my brain might explode.
Ŋãna laugh a lot. They seem to enjoy the same kinds of jokes as humans. When they asked what my planet was called and I replied "Earth", there was a great hoopla. After a few moments confusion the human-form yela'kaja seemed to figure things out and tried to explain. "It seems that the name of your planet sounds similar to a Ŋãna word. I'm not sure how to translate it." Then he got into about a five minute discussion with the other yela'kaja in Xala, after which he must have been searching through the dictionary in his earpiece for the right word. "It is a reproductive process. I believe the word is . . . 'sex'?"
I laughed then, but not just at the Ŋãna. I fired right back at the yela'kaja. "Man, if I were to learn another language, that would be one of the first words I'd learn. How'd it take you so long to translate it?"
That, of course, was the wrong question to ask. It led to a thirty minute discussion about how Xala, most of them anyway, don't have sex, and don't reproduce naturally. They're all genetically-engineered clones, grown in special centers and all designed for their specific jobs; which explains why yela'kajas can just take some hair off your head and transform into your species. Then came an offer to detour the trip to one of the hatching centers. I didn't want to go, but Ŋãna are all for it, so we're taking a little detour.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Departure
I'm finally going to go somewhere! My special transport just arrived and I'm settling myself in right as we speak. Since I'm the only one of my kind around, I get a level all to myself, though they're having to furnish it on the fly since it was so unexpected. They put a little desk in first, on my own request, since I wanted to get this blog written up. Right now there's a couple of the more muscular kind of Xala slowly descending with that little bed in their talons, and another with a little refrigerator stocked with water and that nasty protein stuff (what's in my backpack is just for when I'm out exploring the various areas) and yet another has a box of my clothes they must have stolen from my house back on Earth. Don't ask me how a bunch of flying lizards got into my house without being noticed. I don't know and I don't want to know.
Oh, and they're not carrying all that heavy stuff on their own, believe me. The bed and the fridge are set on little levitating pallets, the bed on its side because the shaft in this transport is kinda small. That's how they move heavy stuff, but apparently it still takes some hefty wing muscles to haul the pallets around.
Getting onto the transport was the fun part. I'm the only one here of my kind, but the transport itself has several alien delegations in it. When the little cylindrical transport docked in the shaft, a couple of Xala had already taken me and my stuff on a few pallets up to the highest level so I could enter through the top level of the transport. (Xala always enter from the top. Their floors are even numbered going down instead of up.)
Anyway, we didn't really enter from the tippy-top -- that's reserved for the pilot and crew -- but from the first level of the transport, which had a delegation of these odd looking creatures with faces a little like a cross between a cat and a teddy bear and long limbs and tail like a monkey and wearing little loincloths and some sort of fancy cape with a high collar. They were pretty small, and kept leaping around these special branched columns that had been installed (I think they were supposed to be like trees) and talking whatever weird language they speak, which sounds like more than half of it comes through your nose. One of them that was a little bigger and not quite so hairy talked to the yela'kaja a bit in the Xala's squawking language, both with odd accents because of their strange forms. Then the yela'kaja turned to me, "It seems that the Ŋãna are interested in the new alien." -- (The yela'kaja typed the name for me. According to him they pronounce their name as NGAH-nuh; but that for some reason the Xala actually call them something like gah-zah) -- "Their yela'kaja has informed me that they invite you up to this level later for a little chat. Would you like to do so?"
I though a minute, looking around at those fake metal trees with the little plastic hand-holds. "I'll see. Let me get settled in first, then I'll see about it."
The yela'kaja relayed my message to the Ŋãna yela'kaja and then lead me to a special little elevator next to the shaft. On my way down to the third level I saw a delegation of creatures that looked kinda like the man from the black lagoon, except as they talked to each other they did really big movements with their webbed hands and would change colors and patterns really quick. I asked who they were and the yela'kaja's answer was, "Those are the xala Kesata. They are one of the first races we contacted through the gâ'akaxaoda. Very interesting people, they don't speak with sound, but instead use gestures and changes of skin color to communicate." His earpiece glowed while he paused and seemed to be searching for some information. "I believe you would call that a sign-language."
"Well, I guess that's close." We got to my level and I got off to settle in. I could smell a bit of a fishy smell coming from the artificial pools on the level above me. Hopefully those won't leak. I don't know what Kesata do in those pools. So here I am, eating a Xala powerbar and looking out a little window as my transport slowly rises out of the shaft and into the sky. Maybe I'll go upstairs later and talk to the Ŋãna once everything is in its place. Or maybe I'll go and see who's on the level below me, if anybody -- these transports have four levels. Might even go see the Kesata for a minute if I can stand the smell up there. Or maybe I'll take a nap first, The time is so off here I don't even know when to sleep.
Oh, and they're not carrying all that heavy stuff on their own, believe me. The bed and the fridge are set on little levitating pallets, the bed on its side because the shaft in this transport is kinda small. That's how they move heavy stuff, but apparently it still takes some hefty wing muscles to haul the pallets around.
Getting onto the transport was the fun part. I'm the only one here of my kind, but the transport itself has several alien delegations in it. When the little cylindrical transport docked in the shaft, a couple of Xala had already taken me and my stuff on a few pallets up to the highest level so I could enter through the top level of the transport. (Xala always enter from the top. Their floors are even numbered going down instead of up.)
Anyway, we didn't really enter from the tippy-top -- that's reserved for the pilot and crew -- but from the first level of the transport, which had a delegation of these odd looking creatures with faces a little like a cross between a cat and a teddy bear and long limbs and tail like a monkey and wearing little loincloths and some sort of fancy cape with a high collar. They were pretty small, and kept leaping around these special branched columns that had been installed (I think they were supposed to be like trees) and talking whatever weird language they speak, which sounds like more than half of it comes through your nose. One of them that was a little bigger and not quite so hairy talked to the yela'kaja a bit in the Xala's squawking language, both with odd accents because of their strange forms. Then the yela'kaja turned to me, "It seems that the Ŋãna are interested in the new alien." -- (The yela'kaja typed the name for me. According to him they pronounce their name as NGAH-nuh; but that for some reason the Xala actually call them something like gah-zah) -- "Their yela'kaja has informed me that they invite you up to this level later for a little chat. Would you like to do so?"
I though a minute, looking around at those fake metal trees with the little plastic hand-holds. "I'll see. Let me get settled in first, then I'll see about it."
The yela'kaja relayed my message to the Ŋãna yela'kaja and then lead me to a special little elevator next to the shaft. On my way down to the third level I saw a delegation of creatures that looked kinda like the man from the black lagoon, except as they talked to each other they did really big movements with their webbed hands and would change colors and patterns really quick. I asked who they were and the yela'kaja's answer was, "Those are the xala Kesata. They are one of the first races we contacted through the gâ'akaxaoda. Very interesting people, they don't speak with sound, but instead use gestures and changes of skin color to communicate." His earpiece glowed while he paused and seemed to be searching for some information. "I believe you would call that a sign-language."
"Well, I guess that's close." We got to my level and I got off to settle in. I could smell a bit of a fishy smell coming from the artificial pools on the level above me. Hopefully those won't leak. I don't know what Kesata do in those pools. So here I am, eating a Xala powerbar and looking out a little window as my transport slowly rises out of the shaft and into the sky. Maybe I'll go upstairs later and talk to the Ŋãna once everything is in its place. Or maybe I'll go and see who's on the level below me, if anybody -- these transports have four levels. Might even go see the Kesata for a minute if I can stand the smell up there. Or maybe I'll take a nap first, The time is so off here I don't even know when to sleep.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Some Interesting Gadgets and Gizmos
Sorry I haven't posted in a while. The little crystal thing wasn't working well, and they had to work it in. The yela'kaja said something about the electrical connection between the crystal and the computer threatening to overload the crystal. Of course, he was only translating for the technician, so he had no idea how it worked, either. The whole thing is just hacked or jury-rigged or whatever you call it. In Yeltax they say "korex la' kadâg goxes", "made from the bones of fish". Well, if there're fish-bones in my computer then this won't be the last time it malfunctions.
Anyway, they've been giving me my other equipment for the trip. The little ear thing had to be tweaked a bit, as it was giving me a headache. It was really odd to watch the tech work with it. He would just take out a little stylus type thing and start etching patterns on the faces of the crystal (which looks a bit like a gemstone from the way it's cut), then he'd put it back in the earpiece and hand it to me to see how that worked. I never knew what the etching did--it always dissapeared once the crystal was activated and then re-solidified, but it doesn't give me a headache anymore.
I got a little pack full of this really bland artificial food. The Xala won't eat it themselves, but they don't have time to gather up the amount of food I eat. The whole time I've been here the yela'kaja has been talking about how "inefficient" the human metabolism is. Of course, they can talk. They're flying lizards, and they eat like it, too. The packs go for days between hunts, and scarf down most of what they catch immediately. Anyway, they can't hunt for all that food, and they have no clue what's safe for me to eat on Jed, so they researched a lot of food on Earth and came up with this stuff, which tastes like those disgusting protein bars you get on camping trips. Nasty stuff. The Xala call it tyexatê, "dead food", but this stuff ain't dead -- It's never been alive. Wish me luck on surviving on this stuff.
Anyway, so I'm carrying my own food, as the Xala don't want to deal with hauling a supply along everywhere. And I'm also packing. I just got my little blaster today. They tested me with it. These blasters are funny in how they work. Here's how my training went: The yela'kaja pointed at the window. "Aim at the window." So, I aimed at the window. "Fire when ready."
Of course, me holding this silver thing in my hand that's been made to look like Boba Fett's blaster from Star Wars, I have no idea how to fire it. There's no trigger, no button. I yelled at it to shoot, but that didn't work. Finally I asked, "How?"
The yela'kaja smiled a really wierd smile and said, "Did you think we would give you a real weapon?" Then he drew his own pistol. "We were just fooling you. Playing a joke on the poor human." I was scared so bad my eyes were popping out. Then he raised his pistol to my head, aiming right between my eyes. "Goodby, human. You won't be seeing your family again."
In a flash I pointed my pistol at him. I remember hearing a sound like some sort of power station humming while it powered up just before the blast of energy burst out of it. Just in time, the yela'kaja raised an arm and a little shield formed from the blue crystal on this metal bracer he was wearing. After the blast was over and the air cleared (I must have been firing continuously for two minutes) the guy smiled again and dropped his weapon. "Congratulations! You can now operate Xala weaponry. Do understand that this is only a precaution. We do not expect any harm to come to you." He pulled another one of those bracers out of his pocket and threw it to me. "The bracer acts on the same principle. We won't test it now, as I'm sure your nerves need a rest before you'll be safe to try it."
They tell me that my transport is on its way here. They have special transport vehicles for "kaja" like me that can't fly on their own. Hopefully it'll be a bit comfortable and safe and it won't involve something I need a gun pointed at my head to operate.
Anyway, they've been giving me my other equipment for the trip. The little ear thing had to be tweaked a bit, as it was giving me a headache. It was really odd to watch the tech work with it. He would just take out a little stylus type thing and start etching patterns on the faces of the crystal (which looks a bit like a gemstone from the way it's cut), then he'd put it back in the earpiece and hand it to me to see how that worked. I never knew what the etching did--it always dissapeared once the crystal was activated and then re-solidified, but it doesn't give me a headache anymore.
I got a little pack full of this really bland artificial food. The Xala won't eat it themselves, but they don't have time to gather up the amount of food I eat. The whole time I've been here the yela'kaja has been talking about how "inefficient" the human metabolism is. Of course, they can talk. They're flying lizards, and they eat like it, too. The packs go for days between hunts, and scarf down most of what they catch immediately. Anyway, they can't hunt for all that food, and they have no clue what's safe for me to eat on Jed, so they researched a lot of food on Earth and came up with this stuff, which tastes like those disgusting protein bars you get on camping trips. Nasty stuff. The Xala call it tyexatê, "dead food", but this stuff ain't dead -- It's never been alive. Wish me luck on surviving on this stuff.
Anyway, so I'm carrying my own food, as the Xala don't want to deal with hauling a supply along everywhere. And I'm also packing. I just got my little blaster today. They tested me with it. These blasters are funny in how they work. Here's how my training went: The yela'kaja pointed at the window. "Aim at the window." So, I aimed at the window. "Fire when ready."
Of course, me holding this silver thing in my hand that's been made to look like Boba Fett's blaster from Star Wars, I have no idea how to fire it. There's no trigger, no button. I yelled at it to shoot, but that didn't work. Finally I asked, "How?"
The yela'kaja smiled a really wierd smile and said, "Did you think we would give you a real weapon?" Then he drew his own pistol. "We were just fooling you. Playing a joke on the poor human." I was scared so bad my eyes were popping out. Then he raised his pistol to my head, aiming right between my eyes. "Goodby, human. You won't be seeing your family again."
In a flash I pointed my pistol at him. I remember hearing a sound like some sort of power station humming while it powered up just before the blast of energy burst out of it. Just in time, the yela'kaja raised an arm and a little shield formed from the blue crystal on this metal bracer he was wearing. After the blast was over and the air cleared (I must have been firing continuously for two minutes) the guy smiled again and dropped his weapon. "Congratulations! You can now operate Xala weaponry. Do understand that this is only a precaution. We do not expect any harm to come to you." He pulled another one of those bracers out of his pocket and threw it to me. "The bracer acts on the same principle. We won't test it now, as I'm sure your nerves need a rest before you'll be safe to try it."
They tell me that my transport is on its way here. They have special transport vehicles for "kaja" like me that can't fly on their own. Hopefully it'll be a bit comfortable and safe and it won't involve something I need a gun pointed at my head to operate.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Waiting . . .
They're working on my equipment now. The yela'kaja told me that he plans to have me going by the third coaxrota. I'm not quite sure what that means, but apparently it equates to a few more days. Not that it's not entertaining walking around my level and dodging Xala as they land on the ledge and run onward into the corridor like chickens. And I do mean chickens, as they're build a lot like birds, so they run that way. They fly a bit different, I think they have to get higher up to glide at all. They're constantly flapping their wings while they maintain altitude, and the minute they stop flapping they drop fast. I think that's why they build their flying buildings with the big central shaft. They're good divers, and their quickest way in or out of a place is down.
But for all their scurrying around and their furious flapping in flight, they're so slow, too. This whole place is slow. It's taken this long for them to start trying on my equipment. They gave me a little piece of metal that fits over my ear with a little purple crystal in it. They told me it would give me some telepathic communication, which I didn't really want people in my head. But they also told me it would help me operate their devices, which I thought was good because I still have to concentrate hard to get my window to open and shut, or turn on this stupid crystal in my Ethernet card that sends the signal across the dimensions back to Earth.
They're also planning to arm me, as well as the yela'kaja. I don't understand their language, but I've come to learn a little about them, and I'm pretty sure that when the guys making my stuff looked at my hands and feet and took a look at my teeth that their hissing sounds meant something was unacceptable. The yela'kaja explained to me that the Xala don't have a concept of "armed and dangerous". Between the claws on their wings, the big talons on their feet, and their strong beaks they could probably take a fully armored swat cop like a professional wrestler could take a ten-year-old boy.
And they know how to use it, too. Despite all their technology, Xala still hunt for their food. In packs, too. I watched a group of them a few minutes ago. They hunt in the same groups that they work with and live with, what the yela'kaja calls krâdo. And when they go out to hunt, they don't bring any equipment they weren't born with. The pack I saw was circling over the woods, looking for something to bring home. I watched them fly around, going down to see things more clearly, then rising to meet his friend as they circled around with big Coaxta and its faint rings in the background, that huge gas giant that takes up a third of the sky, waiting to spot something.
Directly one of them signaled the others, I was too far to hear him squawk but I know one of them had to, and they formed a nice little formation. There were eight of them hunting, and five of them dove into the trees first. I think they were surrounding their prey while the other three dropped like stones right on top of it. I never thought I'd see an intelligent being hunt game that way. When humans hunt, we're out in the woods alone, or maybe with one other person, and we fire at the animal from a distance, letting the bullet or arrow do it's work. Xala do their killing up close, clamping down with their beaks and holding on tight with their claws. A very primal way of killing, an animal way.
Maybe that's what makes them so infuriatingly slow and patient. Maybe they had to develop this patience, with the hunting ritual, and the damn slowness of their work, just to endure this place. The sky hasn't even changed since I got here, nor will it change for over a week until the sun rises. Has never moved an inch in the sky, not since I got here and not in the thousands of years the Xala have been here. On a really clear day sometimes you can see the cloud bands moving and big storms blowing up there, but it feels so unnatural for something to hang in the sky for days, apparently alive but never leaving its designated spot.
But, philosophical thoughts aside, I hope they can get my stuff together and get me out going somewhere. I understand they have design my gun from scratch, and probably some of the rest of it, as they did with the ear thingy. But I've got to get going.
That hunting group I was talking about just now came out of the trees. They took their time getting their prey down like they take their time at everything else. Looks like they're carrying two big lizards in. Probably be a feast tonight where they perch. Not that the word tonight means anything where it takes well more than a month to see two sunrises and the only thing like a moon is always in the same place no matter when. I suppose I should be feeling a bit like a prisoner, like they won't even give me the tour but just keep me here forever. But I trust the yela'kaja, despite the other Xala are so difficult to think of as being anything like a human. I'm just a little impatient.
But for all their scurrying around and their furious flapping in flight, they're so slow, too. This whole place is slow. It's taken this long for them to start trying on my equipment. They gave me a little piece of metal that fits over my ear with a little purple crystal in it. They told me it would give me some telepathic communication, which I didn't really want people in my head. But they also told me it would help me operate their devices, which I thought was good because I still have to concentrate hard to get my window to open and shut, or turn on this stupid crystal in my Ethernet card that sends the signal across the dimensions back to Earth.
They're also planning to arm me, as well as the yela'kaja. I don't understand their language, but I've come to learn a little about them, and I'm pretty sure that when the guys making my stuff looked at my hands and feet and took a look at my teeth that their hissing sounds meant something was unacceptable. The yela'kaja explained to me that the Xala don't have a concept of "armed and dangerous". Between the claws on their wings, the big talons on their feet, and their strong beaks they could probably take a fully armored swat cop like a professional wrestler could take a ten-year-old boy.
And they know how to use it, too. Despite all their technology, Xala still hunt for their food. In packs, too. I watched a group of them a few minutes ago. They hunt in the same groups that they work with and live with, what the yela'kaja calls krâdo. And when they go out to hunt, they don't bring any equipment they weren't born with. The pack I saw was circling over the woods, looking for something to bring home. I watched them fly around, going down to see things more clearly, then rising to meet his friend as they circled around with big Coaxta and its faint rings in the background, that huge gas giant that takes up a third of the sky, waiting to spot something.
Directly one of them signaled the others, I was too far to hear him squawk but I know one of them had to, and they formed a nice little formation. There were eight of them hunting, and five of them dove into the trees first. I think they were surrounding their prey while the other three dropped like stones right on top of it. I never thought I'd see an intelligent being hunt game that way. When humans hunt, we're out in the woods alone, or maybe with one other person, and we fire at the animal from a distance, letting the bullet or arrow do it's work. Xala do their killing up close, clamping down with their beaks and holding on tight with their claws. A very primal way of killing, an animal way.
Maybe that's what makes them so infuriatingly slow and patient. Maybe they had to develop this patience, with the hunting ritual, and the damn slowness of their work, just to endure this place. The sky hasn't even changed since I got here, nor will it change for over a week until the sun rises. Has never moved an inch in the sky, not since I got here and not in the thousands of years the Xala have been here. On a really clear day sometimes you can see the cloud bands moving and big storms blowing up there, but it feels so unnatural for something to hang in the sky for days, apparently alive but never leaving its designated spot.
But, philosophical thoughts aside, I hope they can get my stuff together and get me out going somewhere. I understand they have design my gun from scratch, and probably some of the rest of it, as they did with the ear thingy. But I've got to get going.
That hunting group I was talking about just now came out of the trees. They took their time getting their prey down like they take their time at everything else. Looks like they're carrying two big lizards in. Probably be a feast tonight where they perch. Not that the word tonight means anything where it takes well more than a month to see two sunrises and the only thing like a moon is always in the same place no matter when. I suppose I should be feeling a bit like a prisoner, like they won't even give me the tour but just keep me here forever. But I trust the yela'kaja, despite the other Xala are so difficult to think of as being anything like a human. I'm just a little impatient.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Long Nights, Flying Aliens, and Force-Field Windows
Sorry about the delay. My whole sleep pattern is screwed up here. You see, they tell me that a day here, or the equvalent, which they call the coaxrorol (hyua-kha-ro-rol with the some sort of rolled "r") is really long. They did a conversion for me, and said that it takes about one of our mounths for Jed to make an orbit round Coaxta. And it doesn't get terribly dark, either, because Coaxta is so close to the star here, Cex, that it actually glows from the heat! And to look up at the sky, Coaxta is about sixty times the size of a full moon on Earth! Basically, in the middle of the night, which is the time it's been ever since I got here, it's just about as bright as day! I don't know how or when Xala sleep, but I think I'm going to figure up a schedule and close my window when I need to.
All that said, they told me that they'd give me time to adjust myself, so I can get a regular sleep pattern going. Meanwhile, they've been measuring me. Not just whatever measurements you need for a suit. No, they've been measuring me head to toe. They measured my head, the curve of my ears, my fingers, event my toes. The yela'kaja told me they were going to give me some equipment, in case I got lost or something, and they were trying to figure out where it was best for me to wear it all. I told them where not to put it, as well as making the suggestion that I do, in fact, have pockets, if it's something I don't have to be using at all times in all places.
Anyway, meantime I've just been exploring my level of this little station (They've given me the run of it to entertain me). I can't get to any other levels, as the whole thing is designed so that when you come out of a corridor into the central part of the housing unit you come to a ledge that you basically have to jump off of and fly to the level you need to. In addition, watching Xala from the central shaft (which is what they told me to call it), I notice that they always come in from the top, and leave by diving out the bottom. From the looks of it, the whole thing is designed that way. I guess they figure it's easier to dive in a small space than to climb, but I wouldn't know that.
They don't seem to use vehicles, either. Anytime I saw one of them leave or come back, they flew on their own wingpower. And sometimes they passed the horizon, or came from it. If I'm counting right, some of the ones that left about an hour after I arrived haven't come back yet! Anyway, they told me they were going to get a vehicle for me. Apparantly I had the sorry luck of having to come to one of the units that wasn't designed for kaja (their word for aliens).
And one more thing. I didn't notice at first, but on close examination, I found out that all the windows here are actually force fields! From the looks of it, theres a row of tiny blue crystals lining each side of the window that activate and form a really solid forcefield. I've tried pushing at it, hitting it, throwing small objects at it, etc, and the field is so solid that it reacts just like it was solid. There's no weird ripples or static like in scifi shows: the only way you would know it wasn't plexiglass or something is that, if you figure out how the controls work, you can turn it off, which you don't want to do unless the window is closed up. The winds up here are liable to suck you out and send you hurtling through the air! Besides, they make this terrible screeching noise when they reactivate and the field reforms, so I just leave my window on all the time.
Anyway, that's about all the interesting stuff I have for now. If I can just figure out when to sleep I'll be just fine.
All that said, they told me that they'd give me time to adjust myself, so I can get a regular sleep pattern going. Meanwhile, they've been measuring me. Not just whatever measurements you need for a suit. No, they've been measuring me head to toe. They measured my head, the curve of my ears, my fingers, event my toes. The yela'kaja told me they were going to give me some equipment, in case I got lost or something, and they were trying to figure out where it was best for me to wear it all. I told them where not to put it, as well as making the suggestion that I do, in fact, have pockets, if it's something I don't have to be using at all times in all places.
Anyway, meantime I've just been exploring my level of this little station (They've given me the run of it to entertain me). I can't get to any other levels, as the whole thing is designed so that when you come out of a corridor into the central part of the housing unit you come to a ledge that you basically have to jump off of and fly to the level you need to. In addition, watching Xala from the central shaft (which is what they told me to call it), I notice that they always come in from the top, and leave by diving out the bottom. From the looks of it, the whole thing is designed that way. I guess they figure it's easier to dive in a small space than to climb, but I wouldn't know that.
They don't seem to use vehicles, either. Anytime I saw one of them leave or come back, they flew on their own wingpower. And sometimes they passed the horizon, or came from it. If I'm counting right, some of the ones that left about an hour after I arrived haven't come back yet! Anyway, they told me they were going to get a vehicle for me. Apparantly I had the sorry luck of having to come to one of the units that wasn't designed for kaja (their word for aliens).
And one more thing. I didn't notice at first, but on close examination, I found out that all the windows here are actually force fields! From the looks of it, theres a row of tiny blue crystals lining each side of the window that activate and form a really solid forcefield. I've tried pushing at it, hitting it, throwing small objects at it, etc, and the field is so solid that it reacts just like it was solid. There's no weird ripples or static like in scifi shows: the only way you would know it wasn't plexiglass or something is that, if you figure out how the controls work, you can turn it off, which you don't want to do unless the window is closed up. The winds up here are liable to suck you out and send you hurtling through the air! Besides, they make this terrible screeching noise when they reactivate and the field reforms, so I just leave my window on all the time.
Anyway, that's about all the interesting stuff I have for now. If I can just figure out when to sleep I'll be just fine.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
"So, that's a Xala!"
I think I have come to the first few of a great many surprises in this little adventure that I didn't want in the first place. They moved me into another room that they'd outfitted for humans, so that I'd be more comfortable. I'm still surrounded by metal walls, but they thought to put some woven rugs on the floor, and somehow they got hold of a rather comfortable bed.
But my first surprise came when I looked out the windows in the corridor as we went to the room:
See, I decided to take a glance out the window to see how far up we were, but when I looked down, the ground was so far away that the trees in the forest below looked about the size of my left pinkie toe! And as I leveled my gaze, I saw a cloud out the window. Now, trust me, I'm from the mountains, so I've been above the cloud once or twice, but we weren't just above this cloud, we were flying high above it and coming close to a higher cloud layer. I stopped dead in my tracks and my guide, the same weirdo that talked to me earlier, stopped with me.
Anyway, he explained that the facility I was in, and most of the housing facilities on Jed, were suspended in midair with some sort of anti-gravity system. He said he'd show me where the system is when we started the trip. (He said something about a ring with crystals.) Anyway, I caught my breath and got to my room, which itself has a massive window. I gazed out there for a bit to get myself used to the idea, and then a patch of cloud moved away, and I saw my second surprise.
Up in the sky was a huge object that looked a bit like pictures I'd seen of Jupiter, though not quite. Something about the bands was different. It was many times the size of a full Moon back on Earth, and I just stared at it up there for a moment. The weirdo pointed and said, "That is Coaxta." (I really don't understand the spellings they make me use: it sounded like "hyo-akh-tah".) Anyway, he continued to explain that Jed wasn't really a planet, the way we define it. It's a moon of this Coaxta, which is always in the sky because Jed rotates at the same rate it revolves or some such thing. (He said something about orbits and gravity but I didn't really understand it all.)
I looked for a few minutes until my guide left me, then I decided to close the window the way he showed me. There's this funny purple crystal in the wall that you focus on and it just does what you want. There's another one rigged up to the ethernet card on this laptop that they told me would send the signals to another one rigged to a router back on Earth. Anyway, the sky was really beautiful with all the clouds and that big planet up there, but I just thought I'd get used to the idea before I looked again.
The third surprise of the day, which almost have me a gigantic heart attack, and which made me dive for my laptop later to get it posted was yet to come. I'd just got off the pot. They'd put a toilet in my room "for my convenience", but I just kinda thought that was just them being odd and not realizing that it might remind people a prison cell. But as I zipped my pants and went to wash my hands, this creature came into my room.
It looked for all the world like some sort of dragon or dinosaur, with scaly skin, a sort of funny-shaped beak, and two folded wings where its arms should be. I can't write down precisely what I screamed, but it was along the lines of "There's a pterodactyl in my room!!" screeched at the top of my lungs.
Of course, the weirdo rushed in looking for whatever a pterodactyl was, and then started talking to the dragon thing in his own language. After he talked and the creature answered in a squawking, parrot voice, they both looked at me, tilted their heads up, and made a birdlike noise that seemed to signal a kind of epiphany. "I am sorry. I have made a terrible error of protocol."
He explained to me that he, the weirdo I had met first, didn't resemble the actual Xala. Apparently, he was a special one, what they called a yela'kaja (ye-lahk-kad-ja), which they told me means "the one that talks to aliens". It was hard to follow the explanation, but it seemed that he'd taken some sort of DNA samples on Earth and used some sort of machine to make himself look like a human, which explained his gender-ambiguity a bit. The creature, that dragon thing that came into my room while I was washing my hands was the real Xala.
If I ever come back from this, I'll probably have some mental problems either from all the weirdness here or from a stroke I had in encountering it.
But my first surprise came when I looked out the windows in the corridor as we went to the room:
See, I decided to take a glance out the window to see how far up we were, but when I looked down, the ground was so far away that the trees in the forest below looked about the size of my left pinkie toe! And as I leveled my gaze, I saw a cloud out the window. Now, trust me, I'm from the mountains, so I've been above the cloud once or twice, but we weren't just above this cloud, we were flying high above it and coming close to a higher cloud layer. I stopped dead in my tracks and my guide, the same weirdo that talked to me earlier, stopped with me.
Anyway, he explained that the facility I was in, and most of the housing facilities on Jed, were suspended in midair with some sort of anti-gravity system. He said he'd show me where the system is when we started the trip. (He said something about a ring with crystals.) Anyway, I caught my breath and got to my room, which itself has a massive window. I gazed out there for a bit to get myself used to the idea, and then a patch of cloud moved away, and I saw my second surprise.
Up in the sky was a huge object that looked a bit like pictures I'd seen of Jupiter, though not quite. Something about the bands was different. It was many times the size of a full Moon back on Earth, and I just stared at it up there for a moment. The weirdo pointed and said, "That is Coaxta." (I really don't understand the spellings they make me use: it sounded like "hyo-akh-tah".) Anyway, he continued to explain that Jed wasn't really a planet, the way we define it. It's a moon of this Coaxta, which is always in the sky because Jed rotates at the same rate it revolves or some such thing. (He said something about orbits and gravity but I didn't really understand it all.)
I looked for a few minutes until my guide left me, then I decided to close the window the way he showed me. There's this funny purple crystal in the wall that you focus on and it just does what you want. There's another one rigged up to the ethernet card on this laptop that they told me would send the signals to another one rigged to a router back on Earth. Anyway, the sky was really beautiful with all the clouds and that big planet up there, but I just thought I'd get used to the idea before I looked again.
The third surprise of the day, which almost have me a gigantic heart attack, and which made me dive for my laptop later to get it posted was yet to come. I'd just got off the pot. They'd put a toilet in my room "for my convenience", but I just kinda thought that was just them being odd and not realizing that it might remind people a prison cell. But as I zipped my pants and went to wash my hands, this creature came into my room.
It looked for all the world like some sort of dragon or dinosaur, with scaly skin, a sort of funny-shaped beak, and two folded wings where its arms should be. I can't write down precisely what I screamed, but it was along the lines of "There's a pterodactyl in my room!!" screeched at the top of my lungs.
Of course, the weirdo rushed in looking for whatever a pterodactyl was, and then started talking to the dragon thing in his own language. After he talked and the creature answered in a squawking, parrot voice, they both looked at me, tilted their heads up, and made a birdlike noise that seemed to signal a kind of epiphany. "I am sorry. I have made a terrible error of protocol."
He explained to me that he, the weirdo I had met first, didn't resemble the actual Xala. Apparently, he was a special one, what they called a yela'kaja (ye-lahk-kad-ja), which they told me means "the one that talks to aliens". It was hard to follow the explanation, but it seemed that he'd taken some sort of DNA samples on Earth and used some sort of machine to make himself look like a human, which explained his gender-ambiguity a bit. The creature, that dragon thing that came into my room while I was washing my hands was the real Xala.
If I ever come back from this, I'll probably have some mental problems either from all the weirdness here or from a stroke I had in encountering it.
Introducing Jed and the Xala
I'm not sure how this will turn out. Many of you won't believe what I am about to say, and that's perfectly fine. I hardly believe it myself, but I decided that I had to write it down, perhaps to help myself believe it, or perhaps just to get someone else interested in my story. Or maybe I'm just keeping myself from getting lost in this world. I don't know. All I know is I have to write this.
So what am I talking about?
Ah, I'm not sure I'm even calm enough to deal with it.
OK, here's the story:
A couple of days ago, I was taking a walk down to the bank when I felt this strange tingle. I would have forgotten it in just a minute, but as I walked past a little alleyway it got stronger. Soon it was an itching, then burning, then a pain like was being electrocuted. Eventually, it got to be too much to deal with, so I turned back the way I came, figuring I'd just go to the bank later, but as soon as I got back past that alley, it got weird.
There was a huge explosion that knocked me flat on my face. I could hear the windows of the nearby restaurant, or store, I don't know, shatter and a metallic creak as a truck settled itself into a stable position after it must have been shoved against a building. Then, amid the tinkle of the last fragments of glass hitting the pavement, there were footsteps. They weren't human footsteps, they had a funny pattern to them, a different rhythm – faster than a human's, and less regular. I started to get up and look around, but as soon as I turned my head there was a painful, bright white light – and then darkness. Whatever it was had blinded me.
I could feel a surge as my adrenaline kicked it a notch higher. It didn't matter that I couldn't see, I knew which direction I didn't want to go, and I ran as hard as I could what I supposed was the opposite one. As I ran down the street I felt an impact and fell to my knees. I thought I'd hit a pole, until I realized that the impact had been from behind, right square in the back of my head. I felt dizzy with a fog creeping over my already scrambled brain. Then, it all went blank.
__________
When I woke up, I was in some sort of metal building, and the strangest guy was standing there. He was wearing this weird gray robe. But the worst of it was that I couldn't figure if he was really a he or a she. He -- it -- showed no real disposition toward either. Now, trust me, I've seen people who I couldn't tell their gender immediately, but not like this. His, or its, or whatever, frame was slight like a thin woman's, but with the face there was no telling at all -- with some angular shapes like a man, but also full lips and effeminate eyes. It had very little hair on it at all, just some thin eyebrows, long eyelashes, and a head that looked buzz-cut. The thing seemed so strange that I started when it began to speak, "Who are you?"
"Well, first, who the Hell are you?" I didn't want to answer before I knew who I was dealing with. I thought some government agency had picked me up or something.
The whatever-it-was sighed a bit. "I suppose you've seen too much to be kept in the dark, and I won't risk erasing your memories. I am from a world known as 'Jez'*,"--he seemed to say that word rather strange, like it didn't fit right--"I have come here to observe your world and determine whether we should establish contact here."
I looked around the room, nothing but metal in sight. I didn't know what to think of this anymore. "Well, it seems to me like you've made contact already. And, I must say that knocking me out and hauling me off to this place, whatever it is, doesn't give a very good first impression."
The weird thing gave no expression. "I am sorry for causing you so much trouble. We had scanned the area prior to entering, and presumed there would be no witnesses to our entry. It seems that our technician was most inept at his choice of entrances, and I have made recommendations to prevent such mistakes in the future."
I didn't care to much for his talk. He sounded a bit too much like a politician or a lawyer for me. "Well, you'd better send me back home, or someone will be looking for me!"
"I cannot do that. It would be against protocol to release you before my operation is finished. In any case, no one will find you on 'Jez'."
"What?! I'm on your planet? Jez?" I commenced cussing at that androgynous, lawyery thing, saying things I'd rather spare from the general audience here.
"I am sorry, but we had to be sure that you were hidden away. By the way, I believe I have used a strange pronunciation. I think that in your language, the name of this planet would be more correctly as Jed."
"I don't care how the Hell you pronounce it. I want to go home, immediately!"
"I cannot do that."
"Can I at least contact my family? Talk to them?" I was getting desperate. I didn't think about the fact of my being on another planet, and probably so far from the service area of my cellphone service that the signal would be travelling for a million years before it reached a tower. I just wanted to talk to someone.
"I can't risk you complicating the mission--" It stopped, and made the first real facial expression I'd seen it make, a sort of head-jerk with some idea of a light-bulb going off. "Let me confer with the council."
He left before I could answer, moving rather awkwardly, like he wasn't in his own body.
When he came back, which must have been hours, he had a little laptop computer with him. He explained to me that the council had approved a little experiment. He'd told them he thought the people of Earth might be more receptive if some information leaked out beforehand, that we seemed to fear the unknown. So they had me set up this blog. "I'm not a blogger." I told them, but they told me they wanted someone from Earth who could tell it from a human perspective. They also told me that they wanted to keep things minimal at first -- no photographs, no verification -- so that if they decided Earth wasn't worth the trouble, they could pull the plug and I'd be written off as a joker or a crackpot, or maybe both. (Well, they didn't use those words, but that was the idea.)
Anyway, here I am. My name is Vinceon (They won't let me put my last name) and I'm blogging from Jed. They told me the days run different here, so I can't promise that I'll post terribly regular. These people, they call themselves the "Xala" (they told me spell it that way, but it sounds kinda like KHAH-lah), tell me that they'll be giving me a tour of their planet and some inter-dimensional trade network they run. Right now, I'm supposed to be resting up for the big trip and writing up this intro, but I'll be posting later, and hopefully I won't screw things up too badly.
So what am I talking about?
Ah, I'm not sure I'm even calm enough to deal with it.
OK, here's the story:
A couple of days ago, I was taking a walk down to the bank when I felt this strange tingle. I would have forgotten it in just a minute, but as I walked past a little alleyway it got stronger. Soon it was an itching, then burning, then a pain like was being electrocuted. Eventually, it got to be too much to deal with, so I turned back the way I came, figuring I'd just go to the bank later, but as soon as I got back past that alley, it got weird.
There was a huge explosion that knocked me flat on my face. I could hear the windows of the nearby restaurant, or store, I don't know, shatter and a metallic creak as a truck settled itself into a stable position after it must have been shoved against a building. Then, amid the tinkle of the last fragments of glass hitting the pavement, there were footsteps. They weren't human footsteps, they had a funny pattern to them, a different rhythm – faster than a human's, and less regular. I started to get up and look around, but as soon as I turned my head there was a painful, bright white light – and then darkness. Whatever it was had blinded me.
I could feel a surge as my adrenaline kicked it a notch higher. It didn't matter that I couldn't see, I knew which direction I didn't want to go, and I ran as hard as I could what I supposed was the opposite one. As I ran down the street I felt an impact and fell to my knees. I thought I'd hit a pole, until I realized that the impact had been from behind, right square in the back of my head. I felt dizzy with a fog creeping over my already scrambled brain. Then, it all went blank.
__________
When I woke up, I was in some sort of metal building, and the strangest guy was standing there. He was wearing this weird gray robe. But the worst of it was that I couldn't figure if he was really a he or a she. He -- it -- showed no real disposition toward either. Now, trust me, I've seen people who I couldn't tell their gender immediately, but not like this. His, or its, or whatever, frame was slight like a thin woman's, but with the face there was no telling at all -- with some angular shapes like a man, but also full lips and effeminate eyes. It had very little hair on it at all, just some thin eyebrows, long eyelashes, and a head that looked buzz-cut. The thing seemed so strange that I started when it began to speak, "Who are you?"
"Well, first, who the Hell are you?" I didn't want to answer before I knew who I was dealing with. I thought some government agency had picked me up or something.
The whatever-it-was sighed a bit. "I suppose you've seen too much to be kept in the dark, and I won't risk erasing your memories. I am from a world known as 'Jez'*,"--he seemed to say that word rather strange, like it didn't fit right--"I have come here to observe your world and determine whether we should establish contact here."
I looked around the room, nothing but metal in sight. I didn't know what to think of this anymore. "Well, it seems to me like you've made contact already. And, I must say that knocking me out and hauling me off to this place, whatever it is, doesn't give a very good first impression."
The weird thing gave no expression. "I am sorry for causing you so much trouble. We had scanned the area prior to entering, and presumed there would be no witnesses to our entry. It seems that our technician was most inept at his choice of entrances, and I have made recommendations to prevent such mistakes in the future."
I didn't care to much for his talk. He sounded a bit too much like a politician or a lawyer for me. "Well, you'd better send me back home, or someone will be looking for me!"
"I cannot do that. It would be against protocol to release you before my operation is finished. In any case, no one will find you on 'Jez'."
"What?! I'm on your planet? Jez?" I commenced cussing at that androgynous, lawyery thing, saying things I'd rather spare from the general audience here.
"I am sorry, but we had to be sure that you were hidden away. By the way, I believe I have used a strange pronunciation. I think that in your language, the name of this planet would be more correctly as Jed."
"I don't care how the Hell you pronounce it. I want to go home, immediately!"
"I cannot do that."
"Can I at least contact my family? Talk to them?" I was getting desperate. I didn't think about the fact of my being on another planet, and probably so far from the service area of my cellphone service that the signal would be travelling for a million years before it reached a tower. I just wanted to talk to someone.
"I can't risk you complicating the mission--" It stopped, and made the first real facial expression I'd seen it make, a sort of head-jerk with some idea of a light-bulb going off. "Let me confer with the council."
He left before I could answer, moving rather awkwardly, like he wasn't in his own body.
When he came back, which must have been hours, he had a little laptop computer with him. He explained to me that the council had approved a little experiment. He'd told them he thought the people of Earth might be more receptive if some information leaked out beforehand, that we seemed to fear the unknown. So they had me set up this blog. "I'm not a blogger." I told them, but they told me they wanted someone from Earth who could tell it from a human perspective. They also told me that they wanted to keep things minimal at first -- no photographs, no verification -- so that if they decided Earth wasn't worth the trouble, they could pull the plug and I'd be written off as a joker or a crackpot, or maybe both. (Well, they didn't use those words, but that was the idea.)
Anyway, here I am. My name is Vinceon (They won't let me put my last name) and I'm blogging from Jed. They told me the days run different here, so I can't promise that I'll post terribly regular. These people, they call themselves the "Xala" (they told me spell it that way, but it sounds kinda like KHAH-lah), tell me that they'll be giving me a tour of their planet and some inter-dimensional trade network they run. Right now, I'm supposed to be resting up for the big trip and writing up this intro, but I'll be posting later, and hopefully I won't screw things up too badly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)