The Termite Queen: Volume Two: The Wound That Has No Healing

By Lorinda J Taylor

In The Termite Queen: Volume One: The Speaking of the Dead, the death of a specimen of intelligent giant termite impels a team of scientists to mount a new expedition to the alien planet where the specimen was captured. During the voyage out, the linguistic anthropologist Kaitrin Oliva and the expedition's chief, the entomologist Griffen Gwidian, fall in love and form a union, after which Prf. Gwidian begins to exhibit some troubling changes of mood and behavior. Meanwhile, on the alien planet, civil discord is brewing among the termites; Mo'gri'ta'tu, the Queen's Chamberlain, hatches a plot to murder the Holy Seer Kwi'ga'ga'tei, a plot foiled only by the sudden reappearance of the Flying Monster. In Volume Two, the team arrives at the planet to a combative reception, but, aided by Kaitrin's insights into the termites' unique language, the "Star-Beings" and the Shshi are soon communicating and learning to know each other. The Shshi accept Kaitrin as a friend and even come to revere her as the Mother of her people. Meanwhile, Griffen's inexplicable insecurities escalate, while the dastardly Mo'gri'ta'tu continues to foment conspiracies. Ultimately, the two plotlines intersect in an explosive climax, after which the team must return to Earth and try to come to terms with what they have experienced.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lorinda J Taylor
• Release date: May 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476265018

Lorinda J Taylor

A former catalogue librarian, Lorinda J. Taylor was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and worked in several different academic libraries before returning to the place of her birth, where she now lives. She has written fantasy and science fiction for years but has only recently begun to publish. Her main goal is to write entertaining and compelling fiction that leaves her readers with something to think about at the end of each story.

Book preview

THE TERMITE QUEEN

Volume Two

The Wound That Has No Healing

by

Lorinda J. Taylor

This is a work of fiction. All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. However, the author does not guarantee that such characters and events will not come into existence at some time in the future.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return toSmashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Cover illustration by the author:

The Champion and the Seer receive the Speaking of the Dead.

Copyright © 2012 by Lorinda J. Taylor

ISBN: 9781476265018

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank the following sources for permission to quote copyrighted materials in this novel:

Ten lines from Especially When the October Wind, by Dylan Thomas, from The Poems of Dylan Thomas, copyright © 1939 by New Directions Publishing Corp. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

Five lines from And Death Shall Have No Dominion, by Dylan Thomas, from The Poems of Dylan Thomas, copyright © 1943 by New Directions Publishing Corp. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

Thirty-three lines total from the following poems by Robert Graves: Reproach, She Tells Her Love While Half Asleep, Intercession in Late October, The Jackals’ Address to Isis, and In the Wilderness, (from Complete Poems in One Volume, copyright © 2000 by the Trustees of the Robert Graves Copyright Trust), are reproduced by permission of A P Watt Ltd on behalf of The Trustees of the Robert Graves Copyright Trust.

Five lines from Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney, copyright © 2000 by Seamus Heaney, used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Twelve lines from Nelly Trim, by Sylvia Townsend Warner, from Selected Poems, edited by Claire Harmon, copyright © 1985 by Carcanet Press Limited. Reprinted by permission of Carcanet Press Limited.

Twelve lines from April Mortality, by Léonie Adams, reprinted by permission of Judith Farr, Literary Executrix of the Estate of Léonie Adams.

Extracts from The Mabinogion Tetralogy by Evangeline Walton, used as an epigraph and quoted in the text, are copyright © renewed 1964 Evangeline Walton Ensley. Published in 2004 by The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc., New York, NY. www.overlookpress.com. All rights reserved.

The epigraphs on 27 chapters of this book are taken from public domain materials available at http://www.bartleby/com and I wish to thank Bartleby for the valuable scholarly service it provides.

Author’s Note (Smashwords Edition)

This book contains constructed languages (conlangs). Because of difficulties with formatting this material for ebook, some substitutions were made for symbols used within these languages. The preferred usage can be found only in the print version.

In the Shshi language, bracketed superscript syllables have been substituted for the link symbols portrayed by Wingdings in the print version. This reflects the pronunciation of the links as set forth by Prf. Kaitrin Oliva in Chapter 12:

[yu] = predicate link

[hei] = object/predicate nominative link

[yei] = predicate adjective link

[yi] = infinitive link

In the !Ka

I had been told that Smashwords could not display symbols, so I was surprised at how many of the symbols used in the !Ka

L. J. T.

Once more, I dedicate this book

to the memory of my mother,

Genevieve Kathryn Raitinger Taylor,

who left this life before I wrote it.

Synopsis of The Termite Queen: Volume One: The Speaking of the Dead

In the 30th century, an off-world expedition returns to Earth with a specimen of intelligent giant termite. The young linguistic anthropologist Kaitrin Oliva is able to find a way to access its unique form of communication; however, the creature dies and a second expedition is mounted with the purpose of making first contact. Griffen Gwidian, the entomologist heading the expedition, is a complex man with a dark personal secret. He and Kaitrin fall in love and form a union during the space flight. Afterward, Prf. Gwidian’s mood and behavior change in some troubling ways.

Meanwhile, on the termite planet civil discord is brewing. Mo’gri’ta’tu, the Queen’s Chamberlain, resents the power of the Holy Seer Kwi’ga’ga’tei and plots to assassinate her. She has engaged the services of an outland Champion, Ki’shto’ba Huge-Head, to fight this monster that has descended on them from the skies. The aging Commander Hi’ta’fu the Unconquered resents the intrusion of this outlander, and the word-crafty Chamberlain sees an opportunity to lure the Commander into his plot. At the very moment the murder is about to be committed, the second expedition arrives at the planet. Volume Two begins as the landing party descends to the surface …

Table of Contents

Author’s Note

Part Three: 2 Giotta 17A: Dissolution

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Part Four: Earth: Absolution

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Epilogue

Weave a circle round him thrice,

And close your eyes with holy dread,

For he on honeydew hath fed,

And drunk the milk of Paradise.

– from S. T. Coleridge, Kubla Khan

Part Three

2 Giotta 17A: Dissolution

Chapter 1

The Assyrian came down like the wolf

on the fold,

And his cohorts were gleaming in

purple and gold …

– from Lord Byron, The Destruction of

Sennacherib

As the flyer approached the termitarium, Kaitrin peered through her VE. They’ve come out again! But not nearly as many … My goodness, the angle of the light is certainly different at midafternoon.

Look there! exclaimed Luku. Those are pushing the little carts you saw.

They’ve sensed us, said Gwidian.

And they look even more panicked than the first time, said A’a’ma.

Julian was gawking with his mouth hanging open. Look at those up on the side of the mound! They’re in such a hurry to get down that they’re almost falling off!

Oh, dear, said Kaitrin. I wish they knew we aren’t here to hurt them.

Well, I suppose there’s nothing for it but to commit ourselves, said Gwidian. "That area we agreed on still seems best. Captain, set the Durga down."

Will maneuvered the craft over the landing site and allowed it to settle onto the packed soil of the courtyard about 50 meters from the largest edifice, even as they had planned. The east-west orientation of the flyer placed the right wing, with the main hatch beneath it, directly opposite the tower’s entrance.

Will shut down the engines and the resulting silence seemed ominous. Everyone crowded around the northward-facing windows, peering through the settling dust. The perspective had changed; the termitarium towered above them, while the ground had turned into a flat viewscape with no sight of the mountains that stood in the distant west.

The largest structure rose well over twenty meters high, with the flanking edifices only a little shorter. The smoothly mortared walls lacked the ventilation ribs that buttressed terrestrial termite mounds, although they were randomly pierced by small apertures. The entrances were at the base, which sloped up slightly above the bare ground of the courtyard, probably to ensure drainage in the wet season. Large stones plugged most of those entrances from within.

There was no activity. All the Shshi had retreated into their stronghold, even the sentries. After the final soldier disappeared, a stone was maneuvered into the opening. The towers stood impregnable and blank, revealing nothing.

Gwidian said, Well, my anthro colleagues, what’s our next move?

I guess we wait awhile and observe from inside the flyer while they get used to our presence, said Kaitrin. It’s for sure we can’t message them on the relay.

We should set the external sensors, said A’a’ma a little nervously. It will be dark in – what ? – about three hours? We need to fix our sleep schedule.

Probably best to begin it about five hours into the dark period, said Gwidian. That way we’ll be asleep during the heart of the night, with five hours of darkness before and after.

But that means we’ll be sleeping again in the middle of the day, said Kaitrin.

Best to be inactive during the hottest time, said Gwidian. Let’s at least have a go at this schedule. We can always make adjustments.

Or it will adjust itself for us, said Kaitrin crossly. What an aggravation that this planet had to have such a crazy rotation length!

We ought to be awake at the next sunrise, said Tió’otu. If something is going to happen, that is a likely time.

Come on, Kaitrin, said Luku. Let’s get equipment ready. It will not be long before we send Ti’shra’s voice toward its siblings.

"Yes! I’m so excited! And you’re right – they are its siblings! Every single individual in this colony has the same mother and father!"

We don’t know that yet, said Gwidian. We know nothing about how they propagate. Even on Earth a termitarium sometimes has more than one queen.

The ship’s external motion sensors noted no activity except for the occasional passage of a bird; not even the largest reptile was willing to dare the exposed ground of the courtyard. The only sign of habitation was a scattering of abandoned wheelbarrows. Arti and Julian kept visual watch from the flight deck windows while Will performed a maintenance check on the flyer and established the comlink with the Featherlight. The voice of a human communications officer emerged comfortingly from the speaker.

"Safe landfall duly noted and recorded – good work, Durga! We’ll contact you again in five hours if we have not heard from you sooner. The Featherlight will always be here for you. ComControl out."

The rest of the team had gone below to settle in. Kaitrin and Luku worked on their equipment in the research bay, but Gwidian seemed restless. Finally Kaitrin said, Griff, you’ve climbed up and down that ladder a dozen times. Come sit down here and let me show you what Luku and I are doing. You might have to help operate this apparatus sometime.

He complied, then withdrew to the laboratory to tinker with his own equipment.

The lander carried a supply of frozen meals for quick consumption, but everyone had agreed that they should have at least one real cooked meal a day, so fresh ingredients, as well as tinned, packaged, and dehydrated items, had been provided for food preparation. This task was to be rotated among the team members and the amicable Trea and her mate had offered to take the first shift. They concocted a stew from frozen chicken meat and Earth vegetables like fresh carrots, onions, and tinned water chestnuts, seasoned and thickened with a fragrant spice powder native to their own planet. During the whole operation, the only bread would be a packaged high-energy cracker made from wheat flour mixed with a meal ground from certain oily Kr♪isí’i’aid seeds. Normally, all three mammalian species would eat the same thing, while Prf. A’a’ma would thaw himself a packet of his usual fish or reptilian flesh. However, today even the Big Bird shared in the contents of the pot; chicken was an Earth meat that he had learned to tolerate and even relish heat-damaged.

Frozen strawberries rounded out the repast. It was a satisfying meal, although Kaitrin was so excited that everything felt like sawdust in her mouth.

It is good idea for all persons to carry emergency field rations whenever they leave flyer, said Trea. Same for water flask.

Always? said Kaitrin dubiously.

It cannot hurt, said Sev, even if you cannot think of reason at this moment.

Kaitrin shrugged and dumped some packaged crackers, energy bars, and tubes of protein concentrate into her field pack.

At nightfall there was still no activity in the compound. They sat in the common area, feeling fatigued and a little let down, wondering if they should go to bed.

Then the sensor alarms went off. Everyone leaped to attention and scrambled up the ladder to the darkened flight deck, crowding around the windows with their VEs set on infrared.

The sensor readings showed perhaps half a dozen lifeforms at a distance of 50 meters. The team could discern a ghostly knot of Shshi milling around the entrance to the large structure.

Then a strange phenomenon occurred. A burst of shimmering light illuminated the entranceway.

What the … ? said Gwidian, and flipped up his enhancer to gaze unassisted. Luku was also looking with naked nocturnal eyes.

What is that? said an amazed Kaitrin.

It looks like bioluminescence, said Luku incredulously. Like the glow torches we use on Quornam.

My god! said Gwidian, resetting his VE to day vision. It’s the wings of the alates! The wings seem to be emitting light!

You mean, like fireflies? asked Julian. Why would that be?

In the firefly it’s the abdomen that glows, replied Gwidian. Of all the bioluminescent organisms on Earth, I know of none with photogenic wings.

It’s for light! Light in the termitarium! cried Kaitrin. If the alates can see, they need light! The Shshi not only grow their own tools, they grow their own interior lighting!

That sounds a bit far-fetched, said Gwidian.

This whole species is far-fetched, Kaitrin retorted. Remember, it was you who reminded us awhile ago that we know nothing about the true nature of these creatures. But at least now we can understand why the wings were glittering in the shade.

Trea was perched on a stepladder staring through her own VE and now she said, On Pozúa many sea creatures use bioluminescence to make light in deep ocean.

It’s the same on Earth, replied Gwidian, but he shook his head incredulously.

They stared fascinated at the creatures across from them, whose wings pulsed not only with a white glow, but with subtle greens, reds, and golds.

Let’s turn on our lights, said Gwidian, and see what kind of reaction we get.

They did so, and after a brief explosion of activity, all the small night-shrouded forms disappeared into the termitarium. The bright-winged alates were the last to vanish. Phoo. We chased them away, said Kaitrin.

The sensors showed no further activity. After the humans had gaped awhile at the unfamiliar sight of two moons staring down among the towers, everyone began to think of sleep. Kaitrin and Gwidian sat in the research bay using their neural recorders to make a journal of impressions for future reports. Gwidian finished before Kaitrin. I’m a bit bushed, he said. Come to bed, Kait?

Go ahead, she said. I’ll be just a couple of minutes.

When she entered their compartment, Gwidian was standing before the small mirror, shaving. I thought maybe you’d let your beard grow when you’re in the field, she said.

He glanced at her in the mirror. It’s a bit hot here for that, what?

Too bad. I was wondering how you’d look with a beard. Very distinguished, I’d guess, if you kept it trimmed properly and didn’t let it get scraggly.

He shrugged and laughed. She quickly disrobed and hopped into bed, where he soon joined her.

She sighed, settling into the curve of his arm beneath the sheet. It was warm even in the flyer; they were trying to conserve power cells. Wasn’t it wonderful of them to give us this private sleeping arrangement?

He kissed the top of her head in silence.

Griffen, you don’t seem very happy.

Don’t I? Well … I suppose it’s what we spoke of the other day. I worry too much about you.

Oh, is that it? Now, you promised me …

I know! I will! It’s only … I had been so anticipating our trip into space together and then the voyage turned out so exquisitely as I had hoped it might … I rather lost track of the rest of it. This all seems a bit like an afterthought.

Well, Griffen Gwidian, it’s important to me! Come on, where’s your sense of adventure? You’re a xenologist – you know the lure of alien worlds gets to you!

Well, yes … but if it comes to risking … He went silent. Then he said, You know, I may not be the dauntless adventurer that you might like me to be. I may not even be – especially courageous.

Griff. I wouldn’t have you any different from the way you are.

Kait, can you really mean that?

Haven’t you been listening to me these past weeks? Now, let’s try to get some sleep. Something could happen at any time!

* * *

Kaitrin awoke about four hours later and lay wide-eyed in the dimly lighted room. The temperature had dropped, the enviros had shut off, and the ventilation fans were bringing in chilly outside air. Apparently, the long nights cooled considerably on this high plateau. She bundled the sheet around her neck.

She felt all at loose ends. The chronometer said it was 0100h. That was based on two twenty-hour time grids starting at midnight and at noon, planetary time. What time was it by ship’s time? And by her biological clock? The Featherlight was on a standard space day of 23.5 Earth hours. What time had it been when they left? And when had she last slept before now, reckoning as planetary time? She lay vainly struggling to figure it out, until the back of her neck felt as rigid as a splint. G-r-r-r, this will never do …

Beside her Griffen was emitting his soft snore. She had never told him he snored, but he probably knew it already. It wasn’t unpleasant, anyway – didn’t bother her in the slightest. She lay as still as she could; his arm was resting across her waist and she didn’t want to disturb him.

If it’s 0130h here, then on the ship it’s …

In extreme annoyance, she booted that frustrating exercise out of her mind. Think of something else. Think of the Shshi. Think of the recording …

That was worse than trying to reconcile the time. ¿bei’paho|? [yi] reisho| wei| [hei] sho’a| d’il| || That impossible sentence, or rather, question. Almost undoubtedly a question … sho| [hei]ti’shra’ze| || ¿bei’taio|? [hei] loi’zi| || ...

Oh! She jumped, then looked at Griffen. He only stirred a little and withdrew his arm. He stopped snoring but remained asleep.

That same pair of signals enclosed bei’taio| – she could see the waveforms in her mind. How could she have missed it? ¿bei’taio|? [hei] loi’zi| || was also a question!

Taio|. If it meant to have as she had surmised in another instance …

"I am Tish’ra. Do you have … loi’zi|?"

Do you have … something parallel to Ti’shra, perhaps …

She did not know the meaning of the two morphemes in Ti’shra, but by its nature it was … a name! Do you have … a name?

She sat bolt upright. sho’laio| [yi] preivo| [hei] loi’zi| ki’bei| ||

I want – to something – your name.

I want to know your name.

To know. To know! That was it! She had deduced how to say to know!

Now she could point to something and say, sho’laio| [yi] preivo| … I want to know ... And when the time was right, she could ask her informants for their names.

Terrifically excited, she turned to Griffen, wanting to wake him up to share this latest epiphany. But he was sleeping so peacefully that she subdued the impulse; he would be appreciative, but it seemed kinder to let him rest. Perhaps Tió’otu or Luku … but no. It could wait till everybody got up.

Carefully, she slid back down under the sheet and gave herself over to a rush of ecstasy. Nothing could be more wonderful than lying in bed on a planet thirty-two light years away from Earth, with the person she loved most in the universe sleeping at her side – and then realizing that the word she had most longed to learn had revealed itself to her!

She hugged the sheet against her breast, rolled over against Griffen’s warmth, and at last fell back to sleep.

Three hours later the soft hum of a buzzer signaled that the sleep period was ending. Slightly grumpy individuals began emerging from their compartments. There was consensus among the humans that coffee with their oatmeal would be a great idea. Kaitrin began to babble about her latest revelation and she and Luku rushed to the research bay to record the new words.

Then an hour before dawn every external sensor on the ship began to emit an infernal clamor. Everybody grabbed their VEs and swarmed the ladder to the upper deck. The infrared setting showed a mass of Shshi pouring out from the west central edifice. They were not milling around, but coming in ranks, fanning out, forming compact units. And they were spreading all across the compound.

I hate to say this, said Arti from the southward-facing windows, but we’re being surrounded.

Damn, said Kaitrin, rushing to look, they’re everywhere! Is it soldiers?

Can’t you see the mandibles glinting in this last bit of moonlight? said Gwidian tightly.

Now, no need to panic, said Will. We can always jump out. No need to panic.

Do you think maybe jumping out would be the wisest course? croaked A’a’ma.

They’re keeping their distance from the ship, said Arti, continuing to scan. But even if they swarmed us and sharpened their jaws on the hull, I don’t think they could do any serious damage. I’d be for waiting to see what happens next.

Me, too! said Kaitrin. We haven’t come this far to be scared off so easily.

Will said, The worst they might do is break a cam or a fan, but the essential systems have no elements exposed on the outside of the hull and all the com gear is on the top. I’ll seal off all vents on the lower half of the ship as a precaution.

So they stayed put and waited. Dawn came, colorless, cloudless. And then they could see more clearly what confronted them.

Behind the flyer the line of Shshi was relatively thin, but between the Durga and the termitarium were perhaps five hundred soldiers in two companies, formed into phalanxes of fifteen creatures each. What appeared to be an officer stood at the head of each phalanx. A little space separated the two companies, and two large and imposing Warriors stood alone on either side of this space. Near the entrance to the principal edifice crouched a Warrior who was even larger, possibly the Commander of the operation.

"‡He’etí They have deployed their whole army!" warbled A’a’ma.

Does this make anybody else think we’re in a bad holonovel? asked Arti.

Well, said Kaitrin, her voice quavering slightly, nobody can say they don’t take us seriously.

Gwidian was standing beside her, gripping her arm so that she thought the prints of his fingers would remain after he let go. Perhaps we should reconsider jumping … he began, but Luku interrupted.

"Hoi-a! What are those?"

The light was increasing, and she was pointing to certain soldiers spread along each side of the dividing line.

Hell’s bells! exclaimed Arti. Those look like the pointy-headed ones that spray the chemicals!

Gwidian focused his VEs. Amazing! That’s exactly what they look like.

The nasutes were smaller and more wasp-waisted that the others, and where the majority of the Shshi Warriors were a pallid buff with brownish heads, these were darker, reddish-purple in color. They, too, were accompanied by one who appeared to be an officer.

Then the sun burst full upon the courtyard … flashed from five hundred pairs of razor-sharp scythes … glinted off the bulbous, hard-polished, purple crania of the nasute regiment. Five hundred pairs of antennae waved crazily on five hundred eyeless heads.

God! whispered Gwidian in a shaking voice.

Kaitrin said, I want to go out there.

What? he shouted, snatching her around by the left hand with such force that she cried, Ouch! You’re hurting me, Griff!

He let go of her. Kaitrin, you’re a bloody fool! Don’t be a fool, for god’s sake – or for mine!

She nursed her hand where the grip of his fingers had forced the wedding ring into the flesh. We’re here to make contact! she shouted back at him. Just how do you expect us to do that if we don’t … ?

Look! exclaimed Julian, who had kept his VE trained on the daunting scene.

The gap down the center had widened and activity was visible at the entrance of the main edifice, including a sparkle of alate wings.

I’ll bet anything the alates are the beefeaters of the society, Kaitrin said. I think they are the ones we need to contact. We must go out and transmit the recording. Make those alates receive it.

Too far. Signal is not strong enough to reach, said Luku.

It ought to reach the closest soldiers. Maybe they’ll pass the word up the line.

Trea said suddenly, I agree. We should go out. Sev nodded assent.

No! said Gwidian. Trea – Sev – you, of all people? Anyone who sets foot outside this flyer will be instantly killed!

You see, I really don’t believe that, said Kaitrin. And, anyway, we can just open the hatch and see what happens, and then if nothing does, we can step out on the ramp. If there is movement toward us, we can retreat quickly. They aren’t all that close. I think it can be done safely. I think we must try it.

I am willing, said Luku. Arti? Julian? Will?

I can’t swear the three of us will be able to protect you, said Arti a little worriedly, but in the worst case a few blasts of a laser pistol fired at the ground ought to give them a good scare. They’ve certainly never encountered an energy weapon.

Gwidian had walked away and was standing with his back to them. After a glance at him, Kaitrin turned questioningly to Tió’otu.

He hopped distractedly. I do not like taking risks, he said. But if everybody else is set on going out, I suppose I will go along. But I am not fast on my feet. I think I will stay in the doorway behind you. Shove me through if you want me out of the way.

Kaitrin hugged him. That’s my doughty old grandbird, she whispered to his invisible ear.

Gwidian had turned around, making no attempt to mask his distress. I think you’ve all lost your wits, he said.

Griff …

I’ll join the rest of you if I must. But it will go into the record that I didn’t approve this. He turned away, fumbling with the fastening of his pistol holster with unsteady fingers.

Griffen, said Kaitrin sharply, I don’t want you to go all to pieces and fire that thing without a good reason.

He turned around again. Oh, that’s what you really think – that I will go all to pieces.

Trea laid both of her small hands on Kaitrin’s arm. "Please, Kaitrin. What you should say … ‘If all of you show the restraint with firing pistol as Griffen will, we will be all right.’"

Kaitrin stared down at her, then guffawed. Trea, you have me pegged perfectly! Doesn’t she, Griff? I’m afraid I’ve committed my usual! I’m really sorry!

There was a tense moment. Then Gwidian barked a little laugh and relaxed slightly. Trea, I’m grateful you’re here. It’s only that this is not some kind of game. I do implore everyone, be careful. All right, Kait, if we must do this … Get your equipment and let’s get started.

Kaitrin hung the biopulse emitter on her belt while Luku carried the receiver-recorder. The team clustered together inside the hatch. As Will touched the control, the hatch door disengaged and slid up against the wing while the ramp folded down into place. At the thudding vibration, the nearest soldiers, about ten meters away, jumped violently and pressed backward against the ranks behind them.

They’re still scared to death, said Kaitrin from the hatch. Now! Here I go! And she stepped onto the ramp and descended to its foot.

A’a’ma twittered. Gwidian muttered an expletive. Everyone surged after Kaitrin, with Luku coming fearlessly alongside, activating the recorder as she did so. Arti and Julian flanked them, pistols drawn. Will and Gwidian were behind, also holding side arms. A’a’ma hovered at the top of the ramp, peering over the others’ heads.

They were all in the shadow of the flyer wing, but the soldier termites could not see them in any case. They could smell them, however, and wriggling, side-scraping motions ran through the ranks like a wave. Antennae flailed, stiffening jerkily in various directions. The close-packed assemblage emitted an overpowering odor of its own in the morning sun – an earthy fungal smell mixed with sharp chemical accents that made the eyes water. A bizarre silence hung over the assemblage, a silence filled with the skitter of tarsal claws on hard ground, the dry grating of setae against integument – the snap and clatter of mandibles …

Are you picking up anything? Kaitrin asked Luku.

A huge garble! Everybody seems to be talking! Complete chaos!

Keep recording, said Kaitrin. Maybe we’ll be able to filter out something.

There was a long pause, a standoff. Then the heads in the front lines turned toward the termitarium. The pathway through the center widened even further.

Something is happening! squawked A’a’ma from his perch atop the ramp. "I see at least three alates at the entrance, and some large workers, and the big soldier that we thought was the general. And … hakhís↓~] Setil vrai’u oví↑ ♫!i ♫psá∙át♪ ai↑~]"

Something had emerged from the entrance and was moving along the pathway toward them. It was certainly an isopteroid soldier, but it looked different from those of Ti’shra’s lineage. Its oval head was nearly half its one-and-a-half-meter length. It had exceptionally long and powerful front legs, and a set of mandibles that were only slightly curved and wickedly pointed at the tips; they were perhaps ten centimeters broad at the base and thirty centimeters long. Its head was massive, like a stone, and as smooth and eyeless as a stone. Its antennae projected stiffly toward the position of the stunned observers.

"¡Válgame Dios! exclaimed Kaitrin. Goliath!"

Chapter 2

The heart is drained that, spelling in the scurry

Of chemic blood, warned of the coming fury.

By the sea’s side hear the dark-vowelled birds.

– from Dylan Thomas, Especially When

the October Wind

[At the entrance to the fortress, Kwi’ga’ga’tei, Mo’gri’ta’tu, Di’fa’kro’mi, and others stand with No’kri and Hi’ta’fu, looking toward the closed flank of the crouching Sky-Monster. Ki’shto’ba waits behind them, just inside the entranceway]

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: I would not have had us send out such a force. The Highest Mother’s words called for only the Champion to confront the Strange Ones – to keep them humble, she said. She did not advise making war against them.

[Hi’ta’fu]: It cannot hurt to make a show of force against so powerful an enemy.

[Di’fa’kro’mi]: If this Sky-Jumper is a creature that bears a name of the Nameless, it might be sacrilege to display such belligerence toward it.

[Ki’shto’ba, from behind]: The Warriors have passed word along the ranks that it does not move or emit pheromones. It only stinks vilely. It may be dead. To send out so much force against a dead thing is somewhat humorous.

[Mo’gri’ta’tu]: Perhaps it will speak to us. If it is dead and speaks, would that not satisfy a prophecy?

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: It was alive during the darktime when its eyes filled with light and stared at us. But now I cannot say … Holy ma’na’ta|!

[Di’fa’kro’mi]: May the Highest Mother ward us! An orifice opens beneath its wing!

[No’kri]: Help, Alates! Tell us what is happening!

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: It is … could it be? It is producing young! Smaller creatures are coming from the vent in its side, without the intermediary of eggs!

[Di’fa’kro’mi]: It is indeed a female creature, then!

[Hi’ta’fu, dances]: Do the hatchlings resemble nymphs? Must we fight so insignificant a thing – some outlandish creature’s helpless little nymphs?

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: I cannot see clearly because the wing casts a shadow, but I see nothing that resembles the nymphs of the Shshi. But I think … some of these creatures … are like ones I saw once in a vision …

[Mo’gri’ta’tu]: What? You have visions you do not reveal to the Holy One, dread Seer?

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei, ignores the Chamberlain]: And the Nameless One conveyed to me … that those same creatures were … speechless … Huge-Head!

[Ki’shto’ba]: I am here!

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: Go forth! I think these emergent creatures are the Strange Ones that you were meant to humble. Go forth!

* * *

The monster Shi continued to advance a few steps at a time – a few disconcertingly quick steps with its head lowered, interspersed with pauses during which it reared up, elevating its head and swaying it from side to side defiantly. Its antennae continued to point stiffly toward the group of newcomers.

Threat postures, said Gwidian hoarsely.

It is sending transmissions! exclaimed Luku.

Zero in on them. Don’t miss a blip, said Kaitrin tensely. Gwidian, directly behind her, had wrapped an arm around her waist and was pressing her back as if he would put her behind him. She looked sideways to see his right hand coming up with the pistol in it.

Before she could say anything, a small brown hand appeared and gently guided his arm downward. Gwidian, said Trea’s soft, husky voice, please, put pistol in holster.

After a moment’s hesitation, he did so.

Tió’otu said, Here is what I think – you were right to call it ‘Goliath,’ Kaitrin! I think it is issuing a challenge. I think it wants somebody to come out and fight it one on one.

"¡Caramba! Who wants to be David?" queried Kaitrin, with a nervous grimace.

You mean, single combat? said Arti. She looked at Julian, who laughed and shook his head.

Didn’t train for that at the Academy, he said.

Well, I know how to answer it, said Kaitrin. "Didn’t the Mythmakers say, Fight your wars with words, not weapons?" And she pressed the switch on the biopulse emitter.

The display indicated that it was transmitting. The creature continued to advance as if nothing were happening. It had come about halfway along the path.

Too far, said Luku. I will enhance, focus … She bent over Kaitrin’s equipment.

I’ll begin it again, whispered Kaitrin.

All at once the giant Shi stopped moving. It gathered its legs up against its body, its antennae quivering madly. Then it scrambled backward.

Oh, god, it’s working! It received the transmission! cried Kaitrin ecstatically.

The giant turned to its left. Its antennae were pointing back toward the entrance of the termitarium.

* * *

[Mo’gri’ta’tu]: What is the matter with it? It is backing away like a nymph from a Nasute.

[Hi’ta’fu]: What?

[Ki’shto’ba’s speech reaches them]: Holy Kwi’ga’ga’tei! The vision has found its answer! I have received words from the dead Shi Ti’shra!

[A great flurry of stamping, groveling, and exclaiming]

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: Preserve us … preserve us … [She staggers, steadies herself] I will go forth – alone! I will have no one with me!

[The Seer hastens down the pathway until she reaches the Huge-Head]

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: Tell me what happened.

[Ki’shto’ba]: I received … But the same again … Do you not receive it, too?

… beside the antennae … There is no pain … I know it will never hurt me …

Why can you not understand me? I am Ti’shra … Do you have a name? I want to know your name … I want you to speak to me …

Stay with me … I do not want to die alone … I want to touch you …

I am a One Being, but One Beings are nothing … when they are alone …

Tell them in Lo’ro’ra that Ti’shra died in pain … but it had a Comforter … who was not evil …

I am Ti’shra … I am Shshi … The Holy One is A’kha’ma’na’ta …

I am the dead one speaking.

[The words strike like lightning bolts into the antennae of Kwi’ga’ga’tei. The sun sucks at the veins of the wings. The ground, the Cohorts of Shshi Warriors, the blue paleness of the sky, the blinding light … all whirl … until a merciful darkness comes … ]

* * *

Look! One of the alates is coming out! cried A’a’ma.

As it scurried forward, the visitors scrutinized the slender-bodied insectile form with the double pair of wings and the enormous compound eyes.

What an amazing creature! whispered Kaitrin. Even in this light – all that shimmering iridescence on the wings!

And the eyes are jewels, said Trea.

Once more for the recording … said Kaitrin, and she touched the key.

The alate reached the giant soldier just as the recording started. The pair of Shshi stood frozen. The recording concluded. Suddenly the alate began to shake. Its body twisted, writhed; the wings fanned unequally, and it fell twitching onto its side, crumpling a wing.

It’s dying! exclaimed Gwidian. God, Kait, we’ve killed it!

It seems like seizure, said Trea.

A’a’ma, his excitement overcoming his timidity, had emerged to stand with the group. Kaitrin, he said, you know what is happening? Think!

She turned to look at him. Oh! The two of them exclaimed simultaneously, Shaman!

What? said Gwidian.

Kaitrin began, A shaman is a kind of priest or …

I know what a shaman is, he said.

I don’t, said Arti.

In some pre-tech societies a shaman is a priest who bridges the gap between the world of spirit and the world of matter. They may go into trances – have seizures – and they might employ drugs to induce the proper mental state.

Pozú have shaman, said Sev. Not always just among pre-techs.

Everybody glanced at him, but this was not the time to pursue the subject. Out in the compound, the fearsome giant Shi was standing over the fallen alate, its head cocked, its mandibles resting on the alate’s belly.

"Hoi-a! I think it is going to kill it!" exclaimed Luku.

No, said Kaitrin. Look! It’s using its big head to shelter the other from the sun!

They watched as two more alates and a couple of workers detached themselves from the group at the entrance to the termitarium and rushed out to surround the pair. For a few moments what was happening was hidden from view. Then the group opened enough so the team could see that the fallen alate was on its feet again, being licked on the face and under the wings by its attendants. They conducted it slowly back to the termitarium. The giant soldier supported its body gently with mandibles that could have severed the head from the thorax in a single snap.

The group disappeared into the edifice. Only one alate remained, along with the Shi who seemed to be the Commander. The pair lingered for a moment with their heads close together. Then this alate also withdrew. Certain soldiers ran to the Commander’s side. There were more conferences. The soldiers dashed off to pass down the line of troops.

Apparently they were conveying orders, for the troops began to withdraw. While the team watched spellbound, those phalanxes in the rear began to melt into the structure from which they had emerged. In a gradual and orderly manner, no longer paying any attention to the scary newcomers, the entire army of the Shshi retreated, leaving only a few soldiers at the entrance to the edifice and a contingent of nasutes guarding the main building.

No more to record, said Luku. And memory is full, anyway.

I think, said Kaitrin, it’s time for us to withdraw, too.

Chapter 3

Hamlet:

Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned,

Bring with thee airs from Heaven or

blasts from Hell,

Be thy intents wicked or charitable,

Thou comest in such a questionable shape

That I will speak to thee …

– from William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Back inside the Durga Kaitrin jumped around the cabin like a crazy person. I can’t believe it! I just can’t believe it! she was shouting. It surpasses my wildest dreams! Can anybody – anybody! – deny now that they’re intelligent? They have an organized defense, they care for each other, they may have a priesthood – they have differentiated roles, filled by individuals! They sent out a champion against us, just like in ancient Earth-times! And they understood our transmission! – and they gave up the idea of fighting us after they understood it! What in the world will they do next? Come and knock on our door? Or should we go and knock on theirs?

Sitting at the table, Gwidian seemed stunned. Now he gave a kind of groan. Kait, that’s just the sort of thing I was expecting you to say.

Griff … Kaitrin bounced up, grabbed him around the shoulders, and hugged him. That wasn’t a serious remark! It’s too soon for anything like that!

These creatures have received quite a shock, said A’a’ma. We must be patient and let them recover from hearing – no, ‘receiving’ is a better word – the speech of someone they had believed to be dead. They may think that Ti’shra – yes, Kaitrin, I am prepared now to call our specimen by the name you gave it! – that Ti’shra is actually alive and present here, or that its ghost is here. They have no way of knowing that a machine could transmit this message.

They do not know machine at all, said Trea. They may have language and government and defense system and beliefs of the spirit, but their technology may be only wood and stone tools and wheel – probably not metal-knowledge or even fire.

Tió’otu, how would you rank their technological development? asked Kaitrin. About a 5?

He twitched his beak up affirmatively. Somewhere near Neolithic. And yet … The tool situation is unique and they obviously have superb engineering capability. I wonder how far their math concepts have developed? We may have to insert a new TD subcategory – Shshi development, first contact level …

Kaitrin, said Luku, when can we start analyzing new recordings?

Right now! Come on, let’s see what we have!

So the day sped by, with no further sign of activity from the termitarium except for an occasional changing of the skittish guard. Finally, a buzzer sounded to announce the ten-hour daytime interval was ending. Realizing they were all tired out, they ate a quick meal, set the external sensors, dimmed the lights, and prepared for bed.

In their chamber, Kaitrin rattled on to Gwidian about the new recordings. "We got nothing from the army. Too much talking all at once – it would take days just to extract one or two phrases. But we got the words of our Goliath very clearly! I’m calling it the Challenge Speech – it’s so exciting to have another piece of text to work with! It includes some of the same words that Ti’shra used – na’ta’zei|, ‘Queen,’ and kwi’il| and shkwi’sho’zei|, which I still haven’t figured out. And shweio’zi| must surely mean ‘deaths’ – that’s a little ominous! And shsho| and shbei’a| must be ‘we’ and plural ‘you’ – makes perfect sense! It starts out with an unknown word that probably addresses us and then it says sho’gano| ya| shbei’a| || – ‘I speak to you’. What a thrill to be able to translate something! And Ti’shra’s word lo’ro’ra’mi| appears four times, three with a slight variant on the final syllable – say, you know what? That could be the name of this termitarium! Ti’shra probably said, ‘Tell that Ti’shra died … ’ somehow ‘to them in Lo’ro’ra’ – i’i| would be ‘in.’ I should have seen that before, but the word order was confusing me! -mi must be a place-name marker, the way -ze is a personal-name marker. I also got Goliath’s real name and I’ve given it a syllabification: ki’shto’ba’ze|. ‘I am Ki’shto’ba,’ says our Goliath. What do you think, Griffen? Is there anything comparable to that monster among terrestrial termites?"

Gwidian was sitting on the bed in his bathrobe, waiting for the sonic shower to become available. "In fact, it reminds me of the Afriken species called Macrotermes bellicosus … "

Something in the way he spoke made her pause. It was very remote, as if he were hearing her and answering dutifully while not really listening. In the silence, he looked up.

I’m sorry, Griff, she said. I’m overexcited. I’m running on about nothing.

Kait, I’m sorry I hurt your hand today – at the window.

Oh, that! Kait looked down at her fingers, noting a red mark on the middle one but not mentioning it. Don’t worry about it, love – no damage done at all.

There was a knock at the door and Will’s voice said, Professor, shower’s empty.

Gwidian got up to go out.

Just think, Griffen, she called after him. Ti’shra said, ‘Tell them in Lo’ro’ra that Ti’shra died.’ And I have. I have told them. I’ve brought its words home.

He flashed her a rather grave smile and disappeared through the door.

Kaitrin hopped into bed and lay rolled up hugging herself. I’ll never go to sleep. Too much to think about. Too much to plan.

And that was the last thing she remembered.

* * *

[The group escorting the weakened Seer pauses in the fortress entrance]

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: Commander, pull back the Cohorts. Withdraw them.

[Hi’ta’fu, quivering and making threat displays]: What is this? What is happening?

[Mo’gri’ta’tu]: To do that requires an order from the Holy One and King.

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: Bring your Warriors into the fortress. I have no strength … to argue this. The dead one has in fact spoken even as the Champion’s words indicated. That part of the prophecy is fulfilled.

[Much agitation. Even Mo’gri’ta’tu cringes]

[No’kri]: Commander, withdraw the Cohorts! The Seer has the prime authority here!

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei and her retinue vanish into the fortress]

[Hi’ta’fu]: What happens now? All has changed! The Holy Seer has been vindicated!

[Mo’gri’ta’tu, in fury]: Order the Chiefs to withdraw the troops, Hi’ta’fu! Obviously we cannot prevail at present against the windsweep of this new time, which is coming far too rapidly! But I do not concede defeat, Commander, and you cannot escape! I have not been alone in treasonable purpose! We each know things about the other that would destroy us both if they were spread about. Therefore, we can trust each other. We can trust each other, right? Do you not concur in that assertion?

* * *

[The outer chambers of the Seer’s rooms are crowded with anxious and agitated Shshi. In the inner chamber, Kwi’ga’ga’tei rests on a bed of tho’sei| leaves. Her wings are dull and sag limply at either side of her body. Two Healer Alates minister to her. One places before her a container of water mixed with honeydew; another grooms and licks a wing that was creased during the fit. She raises her head, plunges her mouthparts into the bowl, and sucks in fluid]

[Healer]: The heat drew off the vital sap of your wing veins, Holy Seer. This will replenish you.

[Second Healer]: But I cannot understand – it was only an early sun and it did not shine on you long enough for you to become so depleted.

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: It was not only the sun that weakened me. But I must, and will, recover.

[I’mei’o’nu enters, speaks]: I have imbibed the pure honeydew of the Alates’ Flock, Kwi’ga’ga’tei. I bring it to you!

[The Seer’s Steward abases, brings her mouthparts against Kwi’ga’ga’tei’s, and infuses her gullet with the rich fluid.]

[Second Healer]: Ah, yes, this will work even better to invigorate you!

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei peers about]: Is Mo’gri’ta’tu present in the outer chamber?

[I’mei’o’nu]: No, he and Commander Hi’ta’fu went immediately to the Holy Chamber.

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: I feared as much. I should be there as well. No’kri … If No’kri is without, ask it to come in and leave me alone with it.

[No’kri enters, the other Alates depart]

[No’kri]: We are all much alarmed, Holy Seer. Surely there is something that I can tell my Workers so they will not be so afraid!

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: I want you to call another Council meeting for five turnings of the water vessel. I will speak of these matters at that time. In the meantime, I ask a favor of you. I fear those who may exert unfavorable influence upon the Holy One and the King. You know of whom I speak. When you have the time, exercise your right as Chief of Workers and attend the Holy One as often as you can.

[No’kri, dances]: Chief I may be, but I am as eyeless as any other Worker, Holy Seer.

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: But with a perceptive mind, and an incorruptible one, I truly believe.

[No’kri]: Would you have me go to the Holy Chamber now?

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: I would, until I can come. Try to make A’kha’ma’na’ta and Sei’o’na’sha’ma understand that Lo’ro’ra must remain unified in purpose during these trials. And this you may tell your Workers: Do not be afraid! This mystery of Ti’shra’s ghost surpasses any tale I have ever received for strangeness, but I sense nothing to fear in it. If we have something to fear, it comes from a different source.

[Presently Kwi’ga’ga’tei requests the company of the Nasute Chief and the Champion]

[Ki’shto’ba]: Holy Kwi’ga’ga’tei! I feared for your life!

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: I am recovering. I thank you for your concern and for your assistance. And I assure you, you are not done assisting me. I would ask you to roll the stone across the door. Thank you.

I will speak words to both of you in confidence, trusting that you will not betray me. In my last vision I endured a premonition of my own death, but I was prohibited from speaking about it. In fact, it was so obscure a premonition that I scarcely would be able to speak of it were it not forbidden. But, like the vision of Lo’ro’ra’s destruction, this death does not have to be, I believe, if certain other admonitions are successfully carried out.

The Champion was to make the confrontation. This has been done. The Speaking of the Dead has occurred. Then two commands were put directly upon me, not upon the whole society; I know this because the Nameless used the word of one – bei’sha|, and not bei’shsha| – when she addressed me. First, I was charged to learn to know the Comforter.

[Ki’shto’ba]: The speaking of Ti’shra mentioned that word – I had a Comforter, it said. Who is that?

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: I do not know, but I must learn the answer. Then I was commanded to teach the Speechless One how to speak. But I believe that the Speechless Ones are these same ones that brought the Speaking of the Dead to us.

[Sa’ti’a’i’a]: But, Holy Seer, does that not contradict itself?

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: It was not these outland visitors who spoke Ti’shra’s death words. It was some miracle of the Nameless One, or perhaps only something we have never experienced before – some new thing from this New Time of which we have no understanding. But I must learn to understand, and I can do that only if I myself approach these Strange Ones and explore their nature, as I was charged.

[Ki’shto’ba]: That could be quite dangerous, Holy Seer.

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: And so I would request that you attend me when I go out to them. They will not dare attack me if you are there. You will humble them, even as the Nameless Mother charged you to do. And, Nasute Chief, I have two services to ask of you. One is to provide a contingent of guards to accompany myself and the Champion when we go forth. This guard must remain alert but keep its distance. Only Ki’shto’ba will stand immediately at my side.

[Sa’ti’a’i’a]: That is not a difficult request. But would it not be better if Warriors native to Lo’ro’ra escort their Seer?

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: I say to my sorrow that I do not trust the Commander, or the Chief of the First Cohort, either. Hi’ta’fu consorts too much with Mo’gri’ta’tu, and Lo’lo’pai seems exceptionally agitated in its mind of late. No, I would ask you, Sa’ti’a’i’a of No’sta’pan’cha, to provide a Nasute guard for me whenever I approach the Strange Ones.

[Ki’shto’ba]: I think Chief A’gwa’ji can be trusted.

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: I agree. But if I draw on only the Second Cohort, I will be accused of favoritism, and rivalries will be intensified. I prefer to rely on outlanders and stand aloof.

[Sa’ti’a’i’a]: This can easily be done. But you spoke of two services, Holy Seer.

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: Nasute Chief, you have the right as Chief of the Liege Cohort to attend the Holy One and King. Would you do so frequently? Particularly when Hi’ta’fu and the Chamberlain are present? I have already requested that No’kri do this, but a reliable Warrior presence will have a steadying influence on our progenitors.

[Sa’ti’a’i’a]: Gladly. But I am somewhat uncomfortable playing the spy.

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: I do not ask you to report to me what happens in the Holy Chamber. I simply ask you to represent me there and I trust you to perform this duty without oversight.

[Ki’shto’ba]: This appears to be a grave time for your fortress. You told me earlier that you saw the Shshi of Lo’ro’ra fighting one another.

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: That is true and the memory of that vision still appalls me. But again I say, I do not believe these things to be inevitable. Now go and ask I’mei’o’nu and the two Healers to return. I will determine the time of my going out to the Strange Ones and report to all of you at the Council meeting.

[The Warriors abase their heads and depart. As the Alates enter, Ta’rei’so’cha pushes in with them]

[Ta’rei’so’cha]: Holy Seer! Mo’gri’ta’tu is concerned! He dispatched me to inquire after your health and to offer assistance!

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: Return to Mo’gri’ta’tu and thank him for his concern. Tell him that I am much better and that he need not trouble himself that the present Seer of Lo’ro’ra will not be able to provide for our beloved fortress far into the future.

* * *

[The Council Chamber. Kwi’ga’ga’tei, crisp-winged now and strong of stance, addresses the assembled Counselors]

In answer to your question, Di’fa’kro’mi, I took no vision in the sun this day. I was merely stunned. And I do not know how the dead Ti’shra was able to speak to us. But I believe I know why, and I think we need not dread its ghost nor expect that it will pursue anyone through the corridors of the fortress.

At first I believed that this monster was expelling live young – it truly did appear so. Others have suggested that the monster itself is an egg that was in the process of hatching …

[Mo’gri’ta’tu]: An egg! A flying egg? That is a conceit more humorous than the Champion’s about fighting a dead thing!

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: I did not say that I believed this statement, Chamberlain. After all, the hatchlings went back into the egg and sealed up the hole – is that how nymphs and eggs behave? And Warriors in the forward ranks insist that they smelled bird-stench among these hideous-appearing creatures. Others say they smelled musks that were unlike anything ever encountered on this ground. The shadow and the distance were such that I could not be sure of what I saw.

But I am sure of this: These creatures are visitors – guests at our fortress door. Perhaps they come from some far reaches of the world, for there is much of the world of which we citizens of Lo’ro’ra know nothing. Or perhaps the Nameless One brought them from some unknown place above the sky, for her power is beyond all conceiving. They visited us once before and took Ti’shra away with them, and it died in their possession.

But it did not die in the grip of evil ones! I do not know how they brought the spirit of Ti’shra here, but I am convinced that the sending of its speech was a message or greeting to us, to insure that we would welcome the Strange Ones who brought it! Ti’shra spoke of one whom it called ru’zei|. Ti’shra said, Tell them in Lo’ro’ra that Ti’shra died in pain, but it had a ru’zei| who was not evil. Tish’ra said, I know that it will never hurt me. Ti’shra addressed this Comforter, Why can you not understand me? I want you to speak to me!

But it seems that the Comforter could not speak. Perhaps that Comforter is one of those beings who emerged from the Sky-Jumper. We are called upon to teach it to speak. Perhaps it is eager to speak with us. Perhaps it wants us to teach it.

[No one responds except with much grooming and fidgeting]

[The Grower Chief Gwo’no, timidly]: But my Worker Ti’shra died in pain. They caused it to suffer.

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei]: Suffering is not always deliberately caused. Sometimes suffering comes about through a mistake, or a good intention gone awry.

[Di’fa’kro’mi]: Perhaps it only became ill. Perhaps their fungus is not the proper sort to nourish one of us. Perhaps the injury to its leg festered.

[Mo’gri’ta’tu]: Perhaps they killed it willfully and only tricked it into believing they were kind.

[Kwi’ga’ga’tei, impatiently]: Indeed,