Just came back from that ballet. It was quite a bit different from the one I went to when I first got to Kesata. It started out with the Storyteller like the other one, but once we got into the play there were a lot of holographic images and lights and even fireworks (in the underwater stages, no less). I'm didn't get the story very well, the dancing was quite fast and confused and the yela'kaja couldn't keep up with the translation -- something about a group of terrorists trying to sink one of those big Kesatan deep-sea cities. Meanwhile, I was surrounded by Kesatan diplomats who seemed to be enjoying themselves a bit, though most of them were quite old. Their feelers kept twitching and their hands would slap at the walls.
The yela'kaja later explained to me that there were two major modes to Kesatan ballet, traditional mode and modern mode. Traditional was what I saw when I first got to the planet, with set pieces of all natural materials and very few big effects. Modern is what would describe the play I just came from, lots of lights and pyrotechnics and some applications of Xala technology that I hadn't yet seen, like force-fields formed into giant holograms.
Anyway, the Kesatan diplomats went for a soak after the ballet (they'd started to dry out spending the whole play in the air-breather areas with me), and then they came back and started talking to me. I'd already had the introductions before the play, but apparently they wanted to do small talk. I think there were some Kesatan reporters there with something that looked like a camera along with a little Xala device that puts writing up on a force-field screen in front of you (though I couldn't read the writing, of course. I think it was Kesatan.) They asked me a couple of stupid questions like "Do you like it here on Kesata?" (something every one of the diplomats asked me, as well.) and "Do you thing your planet will soon join the trade network?" How am I supposed to know whether my planet is going to join the trade network? I don't even know if the most powerful leader. But I guess that's how things go.
Pretty soon I'll be heading out for the next planet. The Xala call it Lasga. All I know about it is it's cool and dark and it's possible I might be incessantly annoyed by clicking sounds if my hearing goes up high enough to hear it (the Xala haven't tested that part of my anatomy completely). Anyway, my next blog is likely to be from there, if I can get a light to work.
Anyway, after the ballet was over
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2 comments:
It depends, but it is possible you could hear the clicking sounds, especially if you're fairly young. I went to Carlsbad Caverns once to see the bat flight, and when all the bats came out of there, I could hear the lowest end of their echolocation frequencies. It was like hearing nails tapping (not scraping, don't worry!) against a chalkboard. I didn't think it was that bad. But this suggests that the natives of Lasga--or at least some of its wildlife--are sonar-users.
How did you know that the diplomats were old? (How old is "old"?)
Doesn't your computer also use an image formed via a force-field?
High-pitched sounds are blocked by soft materials much more than lower-pitched sound are, so a cloth over each ear will block the high-pitched sound but not the low-pitched sound.
BTW, what happened to the rest of your post? It stops at "Anyway, after the ballet was over".
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