floated off in the opposite direction to the flow of traffic. No work for them today.
The sun was high in the sky by the time they arrived. They set down on the beach, a stretch of crystal sand which refracted the light in rainbow patterns along its length. The sea, reflecting the sky, was a deep pink. Terra gazed out towards the horizon and breathed deeply, all thoughts of Interfaces, gshkth practice and singed hair cleansed from her mind.
- Wonderful, isn’t it, said Lbbp.
- It is, it is indeed, replied Terra.
They sat in silence for a moment, drinking it all in.
- Lbbp, asked Terra, what’s Rrth like?
There was a heavy pause.
- Well, said Lbbp, a lot of it is very beautiful.
- As beautiful as this?
- Some of it is pretty close, yes, said Lbbp. At least it was the last time I was there.
- How do you mean?
- It’s the Ymns. They’re not as . . . careful as they could be with regard to their planet, said Lbbp, choosing his words with care. He knew that the way Ymns were perceived by Fnrrns – primitive, savage, stupid even – had become a difficult topic for Terra, and this Interface business hadn’t helped one bit. He didn’t want to make matters worse by launching into some bitter diatribe about Ymns despoiling their home world. He’d got most of that out of his system many orbits ago, he recalled with a shudder.
- Is there hope for the Ymns? Terra asked, with genuine curiosity.
- There’s always hope, replied Lbbp after a moment’s thought. Culturally and technologically they’re about where we were five or six eras ago and we turned out all right. Mind you, we’d never developed the sort of weapons they have on Rrth now.
- Weapons?
- Weapons that can destroy a whole city in one go, said Lbbp. They’ve actually used the things, too. I’ve seen pictures. And no you can’t see them, it would scare you out of your wits. They’ve made enough of these weapons to kill everyone on Rrth several times over.
- Why? asked Terra, distressed.
- Who knows? By the time they’d set off the first few there’d be nobody left to set off the rest. There doesn’t seem to be much logic to it. And given that they seem to be willing to go to war over the tiniest thing – minor tribal variations, ancient superstitions, even differing economic theories, if you can believe that – it seems pretty inevitable that they’ll wipe each other out sooner or later. That’s assuming, said Lbbp, rather hitting his stride, that they haven’t done already.
- What? Terra was genuinely alarmed now.
- Well, think about it; we can see Rrth from here using astroscopes and the like, but the light we’re seeing left Rrth many orbits ago. It could all be over on Rrth already and we wouldn’t be able to tell.
Terra’s face fell and Lbbp suddenly realised how stupid he was being. The implication of what he’d just said hit him too late; he could see that it had hit Terra already. She’d come to terms with being the only Ymn on Fnrr (although it seemed to be weighing rather more heavily on her these last few days); the idea that she might actually be the last Ymn left alive was truly disturbing. You fool, thought Lbbp, letting your scientific enthusiasm run away with your mouth. You’re talking to a child, not addressing a symposium. He decided to change the subject.
- Hungry?
- Starving.
They went to eat their food in the shade of the forest, the sun being quite fierce now. Fnrrns turn a bright blue if they get sunburnt, and Lbbp didn’t want to turn up to work with a blue face in the morning, since he’d made no mention of trips to nature reserves, but rather had told his colleagues he’d be working at home today.
They found a clearing with a carpet of soft red grass and made themselves quite comfortable. Lbbp leaned his back against the stem of a giant lgsh-chr flower and chewed blissfully on his configuration 9. The stem swayed in the breeze, with an almost hypnotic effect.
Lbbp’s eyes snapped open suddenly.
The sun was high in the sky by the time they arrived. They set down on the beach, a stretch of crystal sand which refracted the light in rainbow patterns along its length. The sea, reflecting the sky, was a deep pink. Terra gazed out towards the horizon and breathed deeply, all thoughts of Interfaces, gshkth practice and singed hair cleansed from her mind.
- Wonderful, isn’t it, said Lbbp.
- It is, it is indeed, replied Terra.
They sat in silence for a moment, drinking it all in.
- Lbbp, asked Terra, what’s Rrth like?
There was a heavy pause.
- Well, said Lbbp, a lot of it is very beautiful.
- As beautiful as this?
- Some of it is pretty close, yes, said Lbbp. At least it was the last time I was there.
- How do you mean?
- It’s the Ymns. They’re not as . . . careful as they could be with regard to their planet, said Lbbp, choosing his words with care. He knew that the way Ymns were perceived by Fnrrns – primitive, savage, stupid even – had become a difficult topic for Terra, and this Interface business hadn’t helped one bit. He didn’t want to make matters worse by launching into some bitter diatribe about Ymns despoiling their home world. He’d got most of that out of his system many orbits ago, he recalled with a shudder.
- Is there hope for the Ymns? Terra asked, with genuine curiosity.
- There’s always hope, replied Lbbp after a moment’s thought. Culturally and technologically they’re about where we were five or six eras ago and we turned out all right. Mind you, we’d never developed the sort of weapons they have on Rrth now.
- Weapons?
- Weapons that can destroy a whole city in one go, said Lbbp. They’ve actually used the things, too. I’ve seen pictures. And no you can’t see them, it would scare you out of your wits. They’ve made enough of these weapons to kill everyone on Rrth several times over.
- Why? asked Terra, distressed.
- Who knows? By the time they’d set off the first few there’d be nobody left to set off the rest. There doesn’t seem to be much logic to it. And given that they seem to be willing to go to war over the tiniest thing – minor tribal variations, ancient superstitions, even differing economic theories, if you can believe that – it seems pretty inevitable that they’ll wipe each other out sooner or later. That’s assuming, said Lbbp, rather hitting his stride, that they haven’t done already.
- What? Terra was genuinely alarmed now.
- Well, think about it; we can see Rrth from here using astroscopes and the like, but the light we’re seeing left Rrth many orbits ago. It could all be over on Rrth already and we wouldn’t be able to tell.
Terra’s face fell and Lbbp suddenly realised how stupid he was being. The implication of what he’d just said hit him too late; he could see that it had hit Terra already. She’d come to terms with being the only Ymn on Fnrr (although it seemed to be weighing rather more heavily on her these last few days); the idea that she might actually be the last Ymn left alive was truly disturbing. You fool, thought Lbbp, letting your scientific enthusiasm run away with your mouth. You’re talking to a child, not addressing a symposium. He decided to change the subject.
- Hungry?
- Starving.
They went to eat their food in the shade of the forest, the sun being quite fierce now. Fnrrns turn a bright blue if they get sunburnt, and Lbbp didn’t want to turn up to work with a blue face in the morning, since he’d made no mention of trips to nature reserves, but rather had told his colleagues he’d be working at home today.
They found a clearing with a carpet of soft red grass and made themselves quite comfortable. Lbbp leaned his back against the stem of a giant lgsh-chr flower and chewed blissfully on his configuration 9. The stem swayed in the breeze, with an almost hypnotic effect.
Lbbp’s eyes snapped open suddenly.
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