Chapter 11 - Observer

  Day 22 Midday

  I'm sitting under the tent pondering what the dragons would think of our wars. Maybe its my big human centric ego but I suspect theirs would not hold a candle to ours. We split the atom and later we lied to ourselves with programs like 'atoms for peace'. The pinnacle of human engineering creation is often expended creating creative new ways to kill each other.

  I'm under the tent for the privacy it affords. I don't dare share these thoughts for in the view of the Zoo protocols that would be tantamount to joining the herd. I need to stay on the right side of the fence in terms of knowledge sharing. Keeper is wrapped around my tent like some black scaled castle wall. She is snoozing. The dragon makes weird little whistling sounds on the exhale. I wonder if she dreams. I hope there are no nightmares of fuel rods. I would say those rods have been haunting us two but that would have been the gamma rays passing through.

  I try to shake my head free from these dark musings. Why did I come under the tent again?

  Right. I look towards my feet.

  It has healed well. Where the crab had once been there is now just a scar line. Not often I get a chance to look under the merino wool socks. My little interstellar souvenir. My foot does not feel one hundred however. It has been easy enough to ignore until now. Maybe I was wrong about the dissimilarity biology hypothesis? Would need a biologist to know for sure. I would have thought it more likely that bacteria from my own skin got into the cut. The cryo apparatus is by no means a sterile device. Plenty of Earth born microbes have gone interstellar. Amoxicillin has gone interstellar too. I know prevention is better than a cure but I'm bringing out the miracle guns now. Two capsules now, swallowed orally and more to come later.

  I lean back against Keeper's scales, staring at the orange side of the tent fabric. I look forward to the day I can flip the tarp so that orange side faces skywards. It can't be too much longer now. Despite the company these days I find boredom now circles at the edges. There is so much we could discuss to make it not so, but I question the wisdom of teaching dragons about rockets and orbital trajectories. Some people don't want to know the truth. Their "High Sky" is a myth. One day we might compare it to our conception of the aether and see who wore it better.

  Sister A cries out far and wide. Keeper jolts, head snapping to attention. I don't see anything in my 'fortress'. The head comes down and two eyes, a nostril, and one half a row of serrated teeth slides in to look at me.

  "∩?§? ?? ????∥ says the ???§???? is here now. Come George."

  Sister A's patience has been rewarded. The shit show on day 12 was supposedly done for this thing's benefit. I want to see the ocean creature. Want to see if it was worth it. I snake through the gap as Keeper uncoils herself and jog across the beach to where Sister A has landed. Sister B is with her and they both look towards me and Keeper.

  At the waterside I step onto some rocks that jut out of the water. The very same rocks I stood on during that first day here looking and wondering.

  Here I am again and I am wondering some more. I mean come on. That is what they were so worried about? It looks like a squid. Not even that big. About the length of my arm when held out straight.

  What could this thing possibly do that had these dragons in such a pinch? I kneel down to get a closer look at the squid thing. Many people on Earth would happily assert that Cephalopods are actually aliens, so foreign are they, top among Earth's strangest creatures. Well, here is a real alien squid.

  It bops up and down in the waves like a buoyant piece of driftwood. A black fish eye looking organ points vertically upwards. There is no eyelid. It is about halfway down the length of its body. At one end is a vicious looking bundle of tentacles (I would not want to let those wrap around my leg), the other end is pointed like an arrow head. It seems to sparkle under the mid day Chara light but I suspect the effect to be the result of glistening water droplets.

  "The ???§???? says George is too close. The ???§???? would like George to move back."

  Keeper has finally caught up and her tail gently guides me off the rocks and back onto the shoreline.

  The squid said what? I didn't hear anything. Does the squid speak in a frequency that I can't hear? High pitched? I am about to walk off to fetch the tablet and its internal microphone when I notice all the dragons' neck lights are flashing. Dim in the Chara light but I can see it. None have uttered a single word, but I realize now that there is a heated conversation raging. You can see it in their faces, the way the scales slide and contort between pulses of light rippling along their necks.

  So the squid talks with the flashing lights. Yes, I can see them now, all over its body lights are blinking away. Perhaps they should have had this meeting during the night? I had thought it just sparkly skin, like fish scales, but no, those are lights and they illuminate with haste. How do the dragons follow this? It looks like the lighting of a dance floor in a rave.

  This would probably look super cool under a high speed camera. I think the tablet's 60 fps video would be hopeless, so much detail would be lost between frames.

  Yet this is fascinating is it not? They are talking to it, you wouldn't talk to a simple animal. I think by inference I can assume it sentient. How often you see two sentient species sharing a planet? Incredible. I think if say monkeys or dolphins suddenly campaigned for rights and recognition humanity would not be able to share, but here are these dragons and this squid, conversating. Though it must be easier if your sentient neighbors only inhabit the oceans while you get to enjoy the land and the sky.

  This thing lives in the ocean. The squid lives in the ocean! I have to say it to myself multiple times to appreciate what that really means. Tongzhou was burning up and crashing into this thing's backyard. Does it know where the main parts of Tongzhou came to rest? Could it find the alternate part of the PACE plan? Maybe it can find the 3 Qbit standby modem if it was not immolated in a 1000 degree re-entry. Hope rises within me. Maybe we can ask, very politely, if the squid and its people can help search for anything that could be useful from the good ol' Tongzhou. Just imagine, recovering a Q device and being able to talk to home.

  I must ask Keeper to pass on my request but I do not wish to be rude and interrupt. I will wait for a break in their 'conversation'.

  I wonder what it is like, talking with lights you can control with your mind. How would it work? Maybe they just think the words and the lights follow in turn. Would it be like a computer on the network transmitting bits on the wire? Ethernet and Wifi have several clever algorithms to make the modern world's communication go around and that is not to mention the wizardry that Q communication devices pull to send information across the void. Could we one day speak to the alien squid? Maybe I am the right man for the job. I make bits traverse with quantum entangled particles. Flashing lights can't be that bad...

  Keeper cries out. She raises into the air standing on her hind legs, almost taking flight. It is like she has been wounded. It sounds the same as when she first looked into that damned cave.

  It comes as a shock to me, given the conversation had been progressing in audible silence prior to it. I cover my ears.

  What is wrong?

  Keeper looks like she is going to snap, her teeth are bared, even the second row retractable hooked ones.

  Seriously, what is wrong?

  She comes down, fore-paws resting back on the sand. She takes deep heaving breaths. The dragon positions herself between me and the others.

  Oh that can't be good.

  This has to be a mistake. It cannot be some cruel joke. The micoligo do not make jokes.

  A fine of kottle? It is not unheard of for the micoligo to ask for a kottle amercement to make amends for damages sustained. But Dawn Watcher questions what damages there could possibly be. The pieces of Tongzhou it makes mention of have nothing to do with her.

  The requested sum of three eigens of toosii is positively outrageous. She would need to explain the figure to George later. George never told her the words for numbers that large, but in base twogen, she does the conversion quickly, the sum comes out as $$6,291,456 kottle.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Dawn Watcher could never make such a payment.

  The alternative to the fine, the docking of trade with the micoligo is always something to be avoided at all costs, this one is being a bit of a strong wing, isn't it? Squeezing her for all she is worth.

  You don't get names from the micoligo. You never know if you are speaking to the same one. Well, some vyrme claim they can tell by the cadence of their ocean partner's light speech but Dawn Watcher has never seen it proved conclusively.

  But notification of that extortionate fine was not what brought about her outrage. It was what the micoligo requested she do next.

  "Nothing good can come from the 'four limbs'. It is the advice of the micoligo to dispose of it."

  To get rid of the human. It told her to get RID OF THE HUMAN!?

  "Already the human has brought tragedy to your shores. Your family has died by its arrival. It should be disposed of before it can cause anymore harm."

  This one had been watching! It had seen and never showed itself. It had to have been. How else would it know? How else would it have known about her dearest Sky Catcher and her son?

  The rage of loss flares within her.

  "You can take the human from my cold dead paws!"

  Her challenge is dismissed.

  "This vyrme's latent motherly instincts for its dead offspring clouds its judgement. The 'human' is dangerous and should be disposed of. The micoligo have no interest in interacting with the hazard. That is the micoligo's official position."

  It was bold. It was ridiculous. It was outrageous!

  The Sisters! Dawn Watcher couldn't believe the words rolling off First-to-Play's neck.

  "The vyrme wish to learn whatever useful things we can from the human before we consider your advice micoligo, perhaps when we are done you will be ready to reconsider as well."

  The lights illuminate in response, "unlikely."

  "Dawn Watcher calm down. Listen. Here is what is going to happen. The Southern Free Coalition will absorb this fine on your behalf. As recompense you will surrender your mollis fields to the SFC. You will continue as you were with the human," First-to-Play tries to be the voice of reason.

  "Wh- what!? How can you go along with this? I worked threegen cycles for what I have! You can't just take that from me! You can't seriously be thinking to harm the human? Look at it, George is harmless."

  "But we can and we must. If the micoligo cut us off, how will we guard our lands from the FVA? We need their 'far sight' much as I hate to admit it." Last-to-Fall is matter of fact. Never one to try and hide from the SFC's precarious position.

  Dawn Watcher is heaving.

  The micoligo cannot be right. Motherly instricts? Blah. She looks down at George, as if in doubt over her own conviction. She does feel that urge to keep the human safe. But George saved her from the Danger Light! He is a friend! This is not some twisting of vyrme instinct, is it?

  Maybe she has been seeing a bit of her son within the human by the grief that has filled her heart. Has paternal instinct been blinding her?

  The human explorers brought the danger light? George mentioned not knowing why his 'Tongzhou' had fallen from the heavens. What use could they have for such an evil thing?

  How will she ask? How about directly?

  "George say what is danger light rock?"

  "Hard explain."

  "Try anyway."

  So that is what this is about.

  I sit down in the sand and ask, "what is the smallest thing you know Keeper?"

  The dragon stumps for a moment, like no one had ever bothered asking the question before.

  "Dust," the dragon finally settles on an answer, "smallest thing Keeper know. Dust. Very small."

  "And what is dust made out of?"

  "Keeper not know."

  "Dust and sand and everything is made out of small things. Humans call small things atoms. Atoms so small, cannot see them. Humans know when atoms break they cause danger light and warmth. More warmth than any burning fire. Big warmth has many uses. That is danger light rock. It contains breaking atoms. That is why humans bring danger light."

  It's not exactly a boiling water reactor, but I try to keep things as basic as possible.

  "If this is about that then I'm sorry OK? Accident. It was an accident."

  So it's true. If the human explorers had never come...

  Dawn Watcher feels the waves of grief overtaking her again. Not sure whether to curse or thank the micoligo for its words, she just trembles on the beach.

  "Dawn Watcher, stay your course. We shall allow Sings-at-Stars to ask. We will find out the truth." Now even Last-to-Fall shows hints of compassion.

  "I shall wait. I – Mother God give me strength, I accept the arrangement."

  Dawn Watcher tries to remind herself that George never lied. The human was never deceptive in the matter. A lack of explanation is not the same as deception. She is sure that sense will be given to the tragedy of her family.

  Slowly the grief fades and Dawn Watcher finds that the parental urge to protect remains.

  "The micoligo will continue this conference at a later time," the micoligo flashes to the Sisters of the Vahn.

  With the matter attended to, the micoligo simply sinks beneath the surface. With a motion of its limbs it is gone from sight, vanished into the waves.

  The human asks: "What just happened?"

  Day 22 Afternoon

  Charades.

  The dragons want to act out a concept to see if I understand. Charades has been an effective game so far. The squid disappeared without a word and Keeper's flare up has simmered.

  I am curious to learn what happened and this is supposed to be some prerequisite knowledge. I need to take dragon 101 before I can be admitted to the squid 201 course.

  It took a bit of time for them to prepare everything.

  Gave me time to stew in the disappointment of what Keeper told me.

  "The ???§???? does not want to speak with George."

  "Why?"

  "Keeper not know."

  Not even hard explain!? I ask they don't want to talk because of the danger light, because of the debris.

  "Keeper not know."

  Looks like I'm not taking squid 201 then.

  Sister A has fetched some creature from the bush. It squirms and squirms within her white foreclaws. The participant seems to be of the involuntary kind. I don't have a name for it yet, I know only that it is not a Capy. I would say it looks like a large rodent.

  Keeper says this is to teach me.

  Keeper has a snail shell looking thing, like the one prior she put under the UV band. It looks the same to me. Maybe it is the same shell. It is the size of a golf ball.

  The shell is passed from Keeper to Sister A in exchange for the critter.

  Keeper bites down on its head yet its struggle continues. I watch the second row of retractable teeth dig in. They remind me of a Chinese finger trap. The poor bastard can only go one way: deeper into the maw. The thing is swallowed whole.

  That was mildly disturbing. Keeper didn't even chew.

  What was I supposed to be learning again?

  I watch Sister A pass the shell to Sister B who gives Sister A some pouch whose contents is unknown in return.

  Apparently that is the end of the charade.

  "What George call this?" Keeper asks between licks of her lips.

  Predation. Note to self: Do not get eaten by a dragon.

  "Trading." I say, replaying the rodent thing's final moments in my mind again and again and again.

  "What George call this?" She presents the shell. It looks so small in her paw.

  Did Keeper consider doing that to me when we first met!?

  I watched the thing slide down her neck! What an awful fate.

  "George?"

  I look back up to her paw. "Money. Humans call it money."

  "Money called ?§????."

  "Yeah, everyone likes money," and not being eaten alive.

  "Good. This is money." Keeper passes the sea shell back to Sister B. The transaction wasn't just for show.

  "George have human money?"

  "No. No money when exploring."

  Dawn Watcher makes a grumbling sound. Disappointment. But she thinks about it some more and figures it out. The humans would have nothing to buy out here. Why would they bring any money? Morn Chaser left without a kottle to her name.

  Alright, so we needed to establish the concept of currency. What for?

  "What happened before? George call the water creature 'Squid'."

  "Word for need give money to other?"

  "What? Oh, that is called debt. It means you owe money. Does Keeper owe money?"

  "Keeper owe big money by big not understand. Keeper not have big money."

  Even if Dawn Watcher dug up the resting place of her family and nosed around for the kottle stashed deep within her home, she would be no where close.

  "What is going to happen now?"

  I find the concept of a debt to a sea creature a bit hard to believe. Totally unenforceable if your debtor can just fly away. Yet I'm impressed they have the concept of currency at all. It's a great way of solving the bartering problem. If I have sheep and you have cows and they have chickens, we can use money to get around the fact that you want eggs but I have wool and they want for nothing.

  They also seem to have the concept of bullshit fines. If anything, I should be getting fined. Humanity should be footing the bill. Because she didn't push the human spacecraft debris into the ocean she gets fined? What about us crashing in there to begin with? I ask if there is any way I can help but Keeper shuts me down. She says the matter is already settled.

  Maybe the UESC can reimburse her. For everything. Including loss of loved ones.

  "Keeper trade... mmmm, word for Capy fields?"

  "Ranch."

  "Keeper trade ranch instead of money."

  I have just got to know:

  "How much money?"

  Keeper draws the figure into the sand with her tail.

  Six million, two hundred and ninety one thousand, four hundred and fifty six 'money'.

  All currency is relative. I've got no way to convert between 'money' and human dollars so it doesn't mean much to me. Even if we tried to establish some common goods like a liter of water, it wouldn't work. The item would be worth two very different values to the man trapped in a desert and the person under rainfall. Different values for the human and the dragon.

  "Can George give Keeper beach territory to help?"

  "No. George have territory to wait for addition humans. Keeper make choice. The ???§???? say debt or not trade. Keeper choose debt. Now debt done."

  I try to wrack my head around the concept of trade sanctions imposed by ocean squid. I still don't know what they trade with each other. I wonder how important it could be to force this outcome. IIEM 4 has made a real mess hasn't it? Imagine how much worse things could get if I hopped the 'zoo protocol fence'.