Exolegacy, page 20
“I thought that went quite well actually,” Hildegarde said when the Kalas was gone. “The artifact was a nice touch actually, it unbalanced them just enough to back them into the place we needed. I’ll make a diplomat of you yet,” she added with a rare smile.
“Please let me know when your team at the university is ready for the next steps. I’m looking forward to the culmination of all of these years of planning. It really is quite interesting how resourceful you all have been in taking up the banner your parents left behind. I had begun to lose faith in it all. But remember, even though we’re trying to change an interplanetary relationship between two species, you still have work to do at the office. See you Monday,” she said as she exited the apartment.
41 Emprinting
The process that Atla and Som had re-purposed for growing the denser Legatite crystals turned out to be revolutionary. It took a couple of different false-starts using the mineral slurry that Som had come up with, but after about of week of tweaks, they discovered a system for growing a double-point crystal that could be separated cleanly at the atomic level to create two identical blank Legatite archive crystals.
There had been some discussion early on what the interface would need to be, based on the Sentite facility in a different area of Hosa Bengaluru, but given the radically different anatomy of the Manisae, both scientists decided to let the team at Zelmas figure out what would be needed for the emprinting and distribution of the information. Conversely, there was a team ready back on Earth organized by Ili and Ehrenfeld to receive and distribute the information once they had their own copy of the recorded Legatite.
Ilona had already begun that exact process with the input and expertise of Dr. Rezida Donauri, Rez. They planned to design and build two nearly identical “memorials”, one in the common areas of both Wien and Zelmas for free access by the public to the knowledge contained on the openly displayed Legatite archives. These memorials wouldn’t be to commemorate any event, but to access the memory of the Manisae by everyone and anyone, whether man, woman, gen, or dat. Each woman had recruited the aide of locals on each planet to begin the constructions so as to be ready for a simultaneous reveal once the archives were complete.
A week after the two identical Legatite blanks were grown, separated, and packed into a rail-safe package and fired toward Zelmas, they arrived. Given their sensitive nature, and to avoid the over-curious Straj at customs, Als went to receive them in person. His presence would ensure political immunity from search. Digital credentials had been attached to his file in the previous weeks as he continued to excel at his newfound position of representation. Aside from the all-important project that they had all been working on, he had made the time to familiarize himself with the community leaders of the dat and gen populations as well as the non-Arkeota ejd throughout Zelmas. He had become a commonly witnessed figure around the city and was welcomed politely, if not open-armed by the locals. Even the non-permanent humans that spent time there, mainly industrial types, had learned that Alsón Hernandez was the man to connect with for support from Earth if needed.
But if the reveal of the Manisae historical archive couldn’t be accomplished, Als would go back to being just another transplanted human on Tiras, without any political influence or power. Eventually, he would be asked to move out of the Hernandez home on the outskirts of Zelmas to make room for a newly assigned ambassador.
So he focused the majority of his energies on making sure that he had a full grasp of the various aspects of the project. Communications between him and Ehrenfeld were daily if not more so given the time delay and day length. He met with Rez and Gin constantly to keep up to speed on the Legatite development and the collaboration with the Manaiar and Balanta back on Earth.
When he finally had the package containing the two crystals sitting on the dining table at the house, he sat down as heavily as he could in the lower gravity and sighed even more so. They had arrived safely without much curiosity from Straj Daba, the head of customs. He had made sure to focus some attention on a relationship with Daba over the last few weeks as well. Having an ally in customs was as good an idea on Tiras as it was Earth.
“Are those them?” Gin asked as she entered the room after he had laid them out on display, each in a custom printed case for protection. “They seem too light, don’t they?”
“I noticed that,” said Als. “I think they get more opaque as they are filled with data, but don’t ask me how the process works. That’s your field of expertise anyway. How’s the progress on the interface set-up for Nasah?”
Nasah had taken some convincing but had eventually agreed to sit as origin for the all-important emprinting of the archives. The recording session would take place at Ago-13, as it was remote, and according to Gin, meaningful as that was where she had found the mineralogical precursor of the original artifacts. “It’ll be ready,” Gin assured. “Xikse said that it would be missed from their labs if it was absent for too long, so it will be set up as soon as we’re ready to make the trip out to Thirteen to make the recording.”
“You’d better get in contact with him then, I think these are as ready as they will be. All I have to do is put them back in the case and load them into the flyer when it arrives.” Als said.
“Xikse said that he’ll be here asap to pick the three of us up.” Rez said from the other room, having overheard the conversation. “He said that the flyer will be a bit larger than the one we used last time. The equipment needs additional stabilization and with the four of us and the blanks, there wouldn’t be enough room for us all.”
“Do you not think that that’ll be too conspicuous? How much bigger are we talking about?” Als asked.
“Maybe twice the size? I’m not sure. He just said ‘bigger’,” Rez replied. “But if it has a bigger energy bank, we could take a more roundabout route to Thirteen.”
“If that’s what’s needed. I hope that we’re still on task and under the radar,” replied Als. “I just don’t want to get caught with our pants down.”
“You’d know how that feels, would you?” Rez winked at Als.
“Well, I meant in a more political sense, but yes,” Als replied as his cheeks flushed.
“I don’t want to know,” Gin said. “You two need to get a room.”
Neither Als nor Rez responded to that, and just glanced at each other.
“Well, I see that maybe the two of you need to have a conversation when all of this is over then,” said Gin, breaking the awkward silence that she had created.
Rez broke eye contact to look down at her hand terminal. “He’s almost here, we should pack up.”
Als placed the two crystals back into their foam-lined case and locked it up.
Xikse set the flyer down a bit further away from the house as he had on previous trips. The vehicle wasn’t the same model as the one they had used in the past, and it wasn’t as large as Als had feared. There was an additional space behind the main passenger compartment, presumably now occupied by whatever machinery the Manisae scientists and engineers had designed to interface their own minds to their version of Sentite.
The three humans made their way as quickly as possible to the waiting craft. They would be taking a more roundabout route so as not to attract unwanted attention from any Arkeota-controlled posts. As it was, some combination of the four of them had been visiting Thirteen a half dozen times over the past month or so, and if the Arkeota had not noticed the frequency, Als would be very surprised. His only hope was that they wouldn’t flag the trips as suspicious before they fulfilled their task. If the council decided to limit his and his human companions’ forays outside of the city, he couldn’t stop them. After all, he wasn’t officially the top diplomat on the surface, yet.
The flight path took them north of the city this time, and it swung out over the Mariner Valley giving the trio their first sweeping views of the massive canyon before angling south toward Noachis Terra, and their destination. Xikse narrated their view in human terms as they proceeded, presumably to distract them from the gravity of their task, but most likely also out of nerves of his own.
They approached the Ago low and in a swerving path, trying to mask their approach from any observers. Xikse inched over the edge of the crater to observe any unwelcome party but dropped over the edge when he realized the coast was clear. He placed the flyer down on the southeast side of the structure where there was a larger loading port than the main entrance they had used before, plus, it masked the craft from anyone approaching from the direction of Zelmas.
The equipment that Xikse had borrowed from the labs needed all four of them to move, but they managed to bring everything into a large chamber in one trip where Nasah welcomed them. Xikse took over the setup as none of the humans nor Nasah were at all familiar with how to set up any of the various bricks or cables that emerged from the case. Everything was labeled in manisae script, and while Als and the two women may have been able to sound out the words, their meanings were still too foreign for them to make sense of.
When it was all in place around a stool that would host Nasah, Xikse explained the process. “The interface is based on the Ota’nau ceremony. Als, do you remember from your father the process, or should I go into detail?”
“I only had that one memory of the first ceremony that he attended with Nasah, it didn’t focus on the details of the ceremony really,” Als responded.
“Ah, well, you see in the Ota’nau, an ejd is granted the knowledge of the Arkeota, but the ceremony is very old and predates most technology, so it is more… biological, shall we say.
“The memories that are passed to the chosen are stored in a neural fluid that the an’Straj secretes into a ceremonial vessel, which the chosen one then consumes. The integration of the fluid through the gut is what emprints the memories in the chosen’s mind.”
“But Nasah isn’t the an’Straj, they’re just a Straj. Will it work for them?” Rez asked.
“Yes, I believe so. There is no physiological difference between any ejd and the an’Straj. Any ejd can pass memories to another in such a way, but only those of the Arkeota contain the knowledge that we seek, and traditionally, the an’Straj is the only one permitted to release them through the Ota’nau.” Xikse clarified.
“I am ready to begin,” Nasah said solemnly.
Xikse handed them a thin tube with a fitting on the end designed for manisae facial structure, then activated the machine. “Als, now would be the time that you place the blanks on either side of this panel, please make sure that they are seated squarely on the plates or they will not emprint identically.”
Als opened the case and gingerly set each of the dense Legatite crystals in their place, then gave a nod to Xikse when he was done.
Xikse turned back to Nasah and tilted his head similarly, indicating his own readiness. Nasah nodded their head in a rhythmic pattern for a few moments while the three humans and Xikse watched in silence. Slowly, a thin stream of clear fluid made its way down the tube toward the awaiting bank. After a few minutes of uninterrupted flow, the tube ran empty and Nasah slumped forward in their stool, exhausted. Xikse was there to catch them and gently removed the tube from their face. He slowly guided his friend to a nearby corner to rest, and faced them into it, stroking their back to prompt their scales to interlock in a protective plate. When Xikse looked up at the inquisitive faces of the three humans, he explained, “The secretion takes very much energy from the donor, and they need to sleep for a time to regain their energy. Do not worry about their position, we all sleep thus, it is like what you call a fetal position. They will be relaxed like that and sleep well.”
“What’s next?” inquired Gin.
“Now we wait for the Legatite to become emprinted with the memories and emotions that Nasah has donated so bravely.”
Slowly the clear crystals began to turn cloudy and a darker gradient grew from their bases. It was a painfully slow process to watch, but it was wholly unlike the process that was used to emprint Sentite for humans. The three of them intently watched the gradually shifting color of the Legatite while Xikse stood protectively near the sleeping Nasah.
However, as the two crystals became darker, a growing unease started to fall over them. “Are you feeling something?” Als asked Rez and Gin.
“A little abdominal discomfort actually, yes,” replied Rez.
“I have a bit of a headache as well,” Gin added. “Do you think there’s something wrong with the process, or maybe there’s ozone leaking from outside?”
“I don’t think it’s environmental. I feel more uncomfortable the closer I get to the crystals, but it’s not as much a physical pain as it is a general anxiety,” said Als
“Legatite is a significant advance from Sentite, maybe the effects are different for emprinting to the recipient. I’d suggest not touching the crystals during the process,” said Gin.
“I don’t dare. I remember what happened to Mama when she touched the artifact. I suspect that Legatite is closer to the artifact than it is to Sentite.”
“I see it…” mumbled Xikse, then louder so the others could hear, “Close your eyes, maybe it will work for you too. I see the memories even from this distance. Like they’re emanating from the Legatite through the air to me. It focuses the closer I move to it as well.”
Als and the two women closed their eyes and gasped. Images flashed behind their eyelids of sprawling cities and the rolling blue hills of Giras. Nearly simultaneously, them sat on the floor, overwhelmed by the vertigo of the sudden shift in visual orientation and only occasionally took short breaths as their experiences varied from memory to memory. When the images and emotions began describing the first contact with the S’Otestae, each of them doubled over in stress-induced pain, such was the fear and panic that coursed through their minds reliving the past from the Manisae memory.
Each of the three humans and Xikse experienced the political turmoil, and eventual trauma of abandoning their planet and fellow beings in vivid color and stark emotion, all the way through the Staig that led them to a hopeful new home. Then the generational disappointment of realizing that their new home was already occupied by humans, and the resignation of settling for Tiras, the desolate one.
Xikse shook Als awake. He stretched and groaned at the stiffness that had accumulated in his joints from effectively passing out on the not-entirely-warm surface of the Ago floor. He was the last to awake and found that both Gin and Rez were packing up the equipment into various cases, being careful to not touch the now inky black Legatite crystals.
“Did you see everything?” Xikse asked Als as his awareness of the present was regained.
“I think so, yes. It was amazing. Overwhelming, but amazing too. I can’t imagine Nasah and their fellow Arkeota being forced to endure the secrecy of the trauma. Humans would easily break under the emotional strain of all of that. I know that I’ll never be the same. It was like I was one of them, only logic will convince me that I wasn’t.”
“Then it works. Good. We will need to figure out a better interface for transference, as we can’t have dat and gen collapsing in public as they experience this knowledge. I’m sure that the Manaiar will figure out how to interface the Archive into the network for a more controlled flow of information. Not that we want to control the information, everything will be free to access, but the dat and gen minds cannot contain the full load. I am surprised that you three did not have psychotic breaks from the experience.
“If I had suspected that physical contact would not be required to interface with the Legatite, I would have warned you three to stay away during the process. I apologize for any lasting effects that you may suffer in the future.”
“I think we’ll be fine,” chimed in Gin. “There is a lot that you don’t know about human neurophysiology, though I do suspect that Rez may need a bit more time to acclimate, this is a first for her.”
“How is Nasah?” Als asked, just remembering the toll that must have been taken from their friend.
“They are fine. Still a little bit slow, but their energy will return with a strict regimen of fluids and sustenance. I suggest that we try to take them back to the house for recuperation if that is okay with you.”
“If we can all fit into the flyer, it’s fine with me. I’m happy to help them any way that I can, they have been a great service to their species and sacrificed much for all our ideals.”
42 Blockade
Gin didn’t trust the Manisae delivery system with this package. It was a stretch to trust them with the unmolested delivery of the noachite samples and later, the artifact, but she had wanted to facilitate testing and development as soon as possible. Now that the Legatite crystals were emprinted and nearly ready for the reveal, she couldn’t take any chances with the delivery of one of the two precious crystals to her brother in Wien.
She took the surface transit tram from Zelmas to the launch facility at Akmon’Zudas, or Olympus Mons as it used to be called. Gin had thought that naming the largest mountain on the planet, if not the system, after the first an’Straj of the Manisae was hubris at the least. Now she only saw it as ironic as she prepared to accelerate a version of the same person’s memory off the planet as a “gift” to her own people on Earth. How that would be accomplished—the final transfer—didn’t involve her. Her elder brother Ehrenfeld was the ringleader now, and he would make sure that it was passed to the right hands as needed.
Gin checked the package that sat securely between her legs as she rode the transport. Thankfully, Nasah had pulled through their ordeal safely and had managed to engineer a case for the two emprinted crystals that would block the unforeseen radiation of their contents. Now she could carry it easily in a crowd without affecting anyone. After the emprinting process and the experiences that she shared with her brother and Rez, she was thankful to not have to deal with that on a grander scale.
