The Lost Colony, DM Arnold [ebook reader for laptop TXT] 📗

a personal ID chip... I'm now a Floran.”

“How?”

“Illya and I have been corresponding since that day in Seymor's office.”

“And, since your wife has been onworld, I've been pleading with her to come, too.”

“Then, I was let go from my teaching job. After eighteen years on the job -- they said they wanted fresher blood. What they really wanted was cheaper, not fresher. I have no family, so I took Illya up on his offer.”

“I sent one of our enforcers to fetch her,” Kronta replied.

“This very nice young man escorted me here. I stepped into the shuttleport and saw Illya standing, waiting for me... and the decades melted away. I was a young American student in Paris again.”

“And I was a young ExoAgent on assignment.”

“It's been wonderful. We're both so happy.”

“It's a debt I owe you, Nykkyo,” Kronta added. “I only wish Daphne and I could marry.”

“We can't,” said Daphne, “because I have no line here. I so envy you and Suki.”

“We were married in an Earth ceremony,” Nyk replied. “It has no legal standing here.”

“Speaking as a woman, Nykkyo -- it wouldn't matter to me whether it did or didn't. I remember watching you two, standing before that judge and proclaiming your love for each other. It was the most beautiful moment I had ever witnessed.”

“Then -- why not do just that? Invite friends, stand before them and proclaim your love for each other. Afterward you can have a party.”

Kronta looked at Daphne. “That is an excellent idea.”

“I'll bring the champagne,” Nyk added. “Since you've been here, have you seen Suki?”

“No. We've talked on the vidphone but we haven't got together. We will someday, soon. Your wife is a very busy woman. She's the most important Earth person living on Floran.”

“Until half a year ago, she was the ONLY Earth person living here.”

“Now,” Daphne replied, “she is without a doubt the most important. Come -- we'll dine and talk about the old days. I'll show you to your room.”

Daphne heated packaged dinners in the apartment's small kitchen and set them on the table. She produced a bottle and a corkscrew. Illya struggled to extract the cork; then poured rounds into polymer tumblers.

Nyk examined the label. “Chateneuf-du-Pape,” he said. “This was Suki's dad's favorite.”

“I brought a few bottles with me,” Daphne replied, “and a corkscrew.”

“It's a good thing she remembered that,” Illya replied.

“I brought it to celebrate our reunion. Illya said we had to save the last bottle to share with you.”

“I feel honored,” Nyk replied. He lifted his glass. “Then, here's to reunions.” He sipped the wine. “If there are Earth products you'd like -- feel free to give me a list. I'm always bringing cans of tuna for Suki. I can certainly make room for a few bottles of wine...”

“Or, perhaps a tin of foie gras,” Daphne suggested.

“Or some chocolates,” Illya added.

“How are you finding Floran?” Nyk asked.

“It's beautiful -- more beautiful than my wildest imagination.”

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” Nyk replied.

“Thank goodness for beholders. Without them there would be no beauty at all.”

Nyk smiled. “Suki told me how crucial you were to forming her. She told me over and over how Miss Wallace was her favorite teacher. I can see your influence -- that last remark could've come from her own lips.”

“I love your wife, Nykkyo. She was without a doubt, in all my years teaching, my favorite. Teachers aren't supposed to form favorites, but she was mine. The day she graduated I was so happy for her -- knowing she had gotten her life on track. I was sad to see her leave, but I knew great things were in store for her.”

“You just didn't know where,” Illya added.

Nyk walked with Illya into an empty conference room at ExoService headquarters.

“Illya,” he asked, “what is this about? Where's our special envoy?”

“She'll be conferencing in from Gamma-5. I should warn you, Nyk -- she's someone we've locked horns with before.”

“Who might that be?” Nyk chuckled. “Tomyka Wells?”

“None other.”

“Impossible...” He pondered. “Tomyka has been ... rehabilitated?”

“Tomyka spent the first two years of her confinement being such a model citizen, she convinced a magistrate to cut short her sentence. She has been working with the latest Secretary of Agriculture on Gamma. The rumor is their relationship extends beyond professional.”

“Hmmph,” Nyk snorted. “I wonder what sort of man would appreciate Tomyka's ... unique charms.”

Kronta smiled. “He'd need to be a very strong one.”

“Or, a very weak one,” Nyk replied. “Latest Ag Secretary? How many have there been?”

“They've installed a revolving door on the Gamman Ag ministry. This is the fourth in three years.”

“Why the turnover?”

“We can blame THAT on the Altian-Lexalese rapprochement. Mykko Wygann has been opening large tracts of land, and the Altians have been sending unemployed ore-workers to be field hands.”

“What grows on Lexal except for inkroot?”

“They have discovered the Lexalese southern tier has a climate nearly ideal for growing winter wheat.”

Nyk nodded. “Let me guess -- The resulting wheat surplus has hit the Gammans hard.”

“On top of that, the Altians have contributed more than ore-workers. They've installed a couple of their mass drivers to put the containers into orbit...”

“...Resulting in lower production and freight costs.”

“The first Lexalese-Altian wheat came on line two seasons ago. For centuries, the Gammans have been accustomed to a monopoly on being the Hegemony's breadbasket.”

“Now, they know what competition feels like. Hence the turnover at the Ag Ministry.”

“Right, Nyk. They're scrambling to figure out how to deal with it. They've even petitioned the High Legislature for subsidies.”

“I can imagine how well that went over.”

“They called the situation a crisis impacting every colony. It fell on more or less deaf ears. Do you see what happens when you spend a year and a half cooped up in your little Earthbound hole? You get cut out of the loop.”

Nyk smiled. “It's a loop I'd just as soon remain out of. How does this lead to Tomyka's assignment as envoy?”

“This diplomatic initiative has been going on, quietly in the background for some time. Now, both parties are ready to move it up a notch. Once word circulated, Tomyka called in a few of her remaining favors among the ExoService brass and got herself appointed.”

“It seems out of her character,” Nyk replied. “I never envisioned her as a diplomat. As an enforcer, yes -- a diplomat, no.”

“She wanted it bad. We could tell she wanted it -- so bad she could taste it.”

“I still can't believe she'd make such a fuss over this sort of an assignment. What are they planning? A treaty between the Abo and the Gammans patterned after the Lexalese-Altian one?”

“The Abo? What makes you think this has anything to do with the Abo?”

“Your note to Seymor referred to a lost colony. I assumed...”

“You assumed wrong. The colony in question is Varada.”

“Varada...” Nyk rolled the word around in his mouth for a few moments. “The lost colony of Varada...”

“Misplaced would be more appropriate... It's time for Tomyka to conference in. She can fill you in with the rest.”

Nyk turned his chair to face a wall-mounted vidisplay. Kronta activated it and the image of a late-middle-aged woman appeared. “Nykkyo Kyhana,” she said. “Well, well, well... I didn't know YOU were to be our interpreter.”

“I didn't know YOU were to be the envoy,” Nyk replied.

“Please, Nykkyo -- let's not start on the wrong foot. Let's let bygones be bygones. I hold no hard feelings and neither should you. After all -- you were the victor.”

“Agreed... Tell me, Ms Wells...”

“Tomyka,” she replied. “We are on the same team.”

“Tomyka -- tell me how I can help negotiating with Varada. Tell me why we're negotiating with them at all.”

“Some background, Nykkyo... What do you recall of your school history lessons regarding Varada?”

He looked at the ceiling. “Varada -- second or third colony discovered ... Earth-like planet ... for some reason they were excluded from the Floran Hegemony.”

“Varada,” Wells replied. “Current planetary population about two billion. The planet is situated such that interstellar navigation in and out is very dangerous. More of our scouts were lost in the Varada approach than to all other colonies, combined. As a result, the High Legislature decided the colony was too dangerous and was to be abandoned. However, the settlers who were there liked the place and preferred to sever ties and become independent rather than pack up and ship out.

“The Varadans attempted, about a thousand years ago, to normalize relations. An exploratory expedition there revealed something very troubling about how their society had evolved.”

“Which was?” Nyk asked.

“They had evolved into a rigid, stratified society, comprising a leadership class at the top, and with professional, merchant and worker classes in the middle.”

“We have societies like that on Earth,” Nyk replied. “What of the lower class?”

“That is where the difficulties arose. The lowest rung on their ladder was a slave class.”

“Slavery? The Varadans practice slavery?”

“What is even worse,” Tomyka added, “is that they enslaved their own people.”

“Please explain to me why it's preferable to enslave someone else's people.”

Wells ignored his remark and continued, “As you know, the Floran Compact forbids involuntary servitude; the HL constitution forbids it and each and every colonial charter forbids it. The Varadans were told to abolish slavery as a condition for normalization. They walked away from the table.”

“And, now they're back. How did we make contact with them?”

“The Varadans have no interstellar fleet. Their technology resembles Floran's at the dawn of our Golden Age. They do have primitive tachyon transmitters, and they have been hailing us for ... for about a hundred years. About a year ago, one of our exo scouts intercepted the hail. We have been communicating, laboriously, for the past year. Each communiqué must be translated and relayed to an exo scout, which must move close enough to transmit; then wait and relay the reply back. We feel we are ready for face-to-face communications.”

“How do I fit in?”

“Nykkyo -- You are fluent in Esperanto. We want you to interpret for us.”

“The Varadans speak Esperanto? By the time of the first colonies, the language had already evolved.”

“The Varadans speak a language that resembles Old Floran.”

“I don't speak Old Floran.”

“Old Floran is quite close to Esperanto,” Kronta interjected. “Have you ever read Red Dawn, Red Dusk in the original Old Floran?”

“Our national literary treasure... I can't get through it in modern Floran.”

“You are a natural linguist, Nykkyo,” Kronta added. “I wouldn't have recommended you if I didn't think you could handle it.”

“There must be linguists in the diplomatic corps who can translate. Use the ones that translated the initial missives.”

“They can read the language and translate it -- but they can't speak it.”

“All right -- I'll give it a try.”

“Good,” Tomyka said. “In two days time, you are to proceed to the transit platform. Go to the ExoService wing and receive instructions there. An exo scout will transport you to Varada, where you will meet with Prefect Ogan. I will follow in two or three days. It'll give you time to practice with the language.”

Nyk looked toward Kronta. “I'll want Andra with me.”

“The ax'amfin witch?” Wells exclaimed. “Never!”

“Why do you want her?” Kronta asked.

“Because she IS ax'amfin. She was taught the arts of statecraft and protocol. She's also a quick study when languages are concerned. If these are to be diplomatic meetings, I'd want her there. She can advise me based on skills she was taught.”

“I refuse to permit this,” Wells protested.

“Those are my terms,” Nyk replied. “No Andra -- no participation.”

Wells glowered through the vidisplay. “Very well. Illya, get some assurances.” The teleconference display went blank.

“I really rather you didn't bring Andra into this, Nyk.”

“Why not?”

“I don't trust ax'amfinen.”

“Andra has never done anything contra to the best interests of the Hegemony,” Nyk replied.

“True, but maybe because she's never had to choose between loyalty to her school and loyalty to her home.”

“Andra's not like that. She has a well-developed sense of right and wrong.”

“My previous statement stands,” Illya said. “I like Andra, and she's never crossed me, personally. But -- an ax'amfin would never be my choice for an important mission.”

“I think she'll be useful. I certainly don't know how she could hurt.”

“What's your plan?” Kronta asked.

“I'll swing by Sudal and pick up Andra. Then we'll take the scout to Varada.”

Nyk climbed the spiral staircase to the living level of the Residence in Sudal. He looked around his childhood home. The place seemed deserted. “Hello? Suki? Andra?” A tall young woman with oat-straw white hair and pale blue eyes stepped from the back of the house. “Andra!”

“Nyk!” She ran to him. He held and kissed her. “What are you doing here?”

“I'm on a special assignment. I need you to come with me. Can you get away for a few days?”

“What assignment?”

“A diplomatic mission to the lost colony of Varada.”

“Varada?”

“No lie.”

“I ... I think I can get away...”

“Wonderful. I'd love having you along.” He scanned around the living room. “Where's Suki?”

“She's traveling.