<USS Cervantes> "Truth"

I um. only thought I sent this to the string. I actually sent it to
myself. Er. D'oh!
 
"Truth"
Ashne'e Al Kiara
 
A system is just like truth's tail, but the truth is like a lizard. It
will leave the tail in your hand and escape; it knows that it will soon
grow another tail.
Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
 
            Ashne'e stood with Ssarish in the center of the camp. In
front of them, at the slope-roofed administration building, Hisaj was
laboring to organize repairs and renovations. Silently, Ashne'e admired
his facile leadership abilities and the charismatic way he nudged the
Ss'thla into moving productively forward instead of dwelling on the
ugliness of recent events.
            Risah, looking healthier and happier than Ashne'e had seen
her before, spryly approached Hisaj and affectionately licked his lisss.
As she darted back into another building, Ashne'e noticed that Hisaj's
pregnancy pouch was swollen and bright. He flicked his tongue after
Risah's retreating form, and returned to the orchestration of the camp.
            "He seems to be doing very well," Ashne'e complimented
Ssarish. 
            "He wasss a wissse choiccce," Ssarish agreed. "I wass not
sssure the othersss would realizze it, but we are all better off that
thhhey did."
            "How has he decided to deal with the Khefiraa
contamination?" Ashne'e asked. She stepped out of the way as a cartload
of heavy building material roared past her.
            "We will not sssell any artifactsss," Ssarish said. Ashne'e
wished she was an empath at times like these when she was unable to read
the body language of non-humanoid aliens. Without the assurance of a
sixth sense, Ashne'e was certain that Ssarish was broadcasting shame.
"We will keep careful inventoriesss, and of courssse, we realizzze now
that we were wrong to ssstudy only limited assspectss of the sssociety."
Ssarish gestured with a claw toward the distance. Two Ss'thla,
unidentifiable so far away, were excitedly discussing something. "Orssch
ssshowed usss that. If we had paid attention to him, he would have
ssshowed it to usss before anyone died. But we know now."
            Ashne'e nodded. "It is good that you are willing to learn
from your mistakes."
            "Yesss," agreed Ssarish. "Orschh will be a good
archaeologisssst. He will work with me for now, but assss he growssss
older, I think he will be what the Ss'thla have lacked. Curiosssity
issss not our sstrong ssuit. Orschh will ssstudy what we neglect.
Already the children know him."
            One of the figures - Ashne'e fancied she could discern that
it possessed bright green scales - jumped acrobatically into the air,
then rolled in the dirt before regaining his feet. She couldn't help but
smile at his antics, and the satisfaction that he was being acknowledged
despite the prejudice the other Ss'thla leveled at him. Like any young
thing, he was full of energy, contagiously likeable. Ashne'e was glad to
replace her last sight of him, injured and bleeding, with this hopeful
scene.
            "Will you continue to go back to Khefiraa past?"
            "We will do sssso lesss," Ssarish confessed. She seemed
saddened from the way her limbs drooped. "I wisssh we were like you,
becaussse then we could disssguisse ourssselves asss Khefiraa, and not
worry about what they make of usss and our dark cloaksss. But we are
tall and sssscaly." With an expansive gesture, she indicated the
fullness of her nine-foot form. "We will go back sssometimesss. We are
part of their culture now. If Hisaj thinksss we ssshould, then
eventually we will taper off our comingsss and be there no more. We
mussst learn how to learn from dead thingsss."
            "Our people have a law called the Prime Directive," Ashne'e
explained, reasoning that it was a prudent tenet to introduce to their
culture as a seed that might one day blossom into wise practice. "We do
not interfere with societies less technologically developed than our own
so that they can make their discoveries without interference and join us
someday as equals."
            "It issss different when they are in the passst," Ssarish
argued. "We know that they never will join ussss. They die. And we know
that what we do to influenccce them hasss already been done, and if we
ccceassse to do it, then we are changing the passst. We have read of
Ss'thla presssencce in the iconographhss continuing for decadessss.
Ssshould we change that?"
            Ashne'e had no ready answer.
            A Ss'thla Ashne'e did not recognize passed the pair of them
and began shoveling sand from beneath their feet to dig a new
foundation. Ssarish led Ashne'e out of the camp, toward the borders,
where they could glimpse the ancient Khefiraa civilization looming on
the horizon, a tiny white castle, whispering of mystique and the
unknown, even moreso now that Ashne'e had chanced to dwell in its halls.
            Ssarish pointed to the city with one of her great, wide,
calcified claws. "You asssked me onccce why the Ss'thla were here," she
said. "I pretended not to underssstand you, but I can tell you are
sssstill wondering. We are xxenophobic; we are not curiousss; we
ssshould not be archaeologistssss like you warm, fuzzzzy onesss."
            "It did perplex me," Ashne'e agreed.
            "Sssomtimesss there are political presssuresss that sssway
even the Eldersss. The homeworld is very overpopulated. Yet we have
alwaysss believed that we could not live anywhere elsssse. Sssso, the
Eldersss sssent me, and a few othersss who are not here now, out to find
another world. Even though Ss'thla born offworld are ssstrange, like
Orschh and the many children who died, we had hope. We Ss'thla live on a
desssert world with ssand and heat like thisss one, sssso we ssstopped
to invessstigate it. I found the cccity and the hieroglyphicsss, and I
learned to read them. They sssspoke of usss, even then. I knew we were
sssupossed to be here. I am a rare Ss'thla; I am curious; I am not
xxxenophobic. I thhhought I could find onesss like me who would be
curiousss, but I only found a few, like Hisaj. I wasss widely ridiculed
for wanting to invessstigate a dead culture, but my great-grandfather
issss an Elder One, and he would not bring ssshame to the family by
humiliating me, sssso they made an archaeological exxxpedition."
Ssarish's slowly flicking tail made a groove in the sand like a snow
angel. Her eyes never wavered from the city on the horizon. "I did not
read the hieroglypicsss all correctly, I sssee. I ssshould have known
about Rahssh and Lisith and Ss'lih. I have brought death to many who
ssshould not have died."
            As gently as she could, Ashne'e asked, "What did you see in
the hieroglyphics? That made it so vital for you to return here?" She
avoided making eye contact with the majestic reptile, keeping her gaze
parallel on the decaying Khefiraan civilization.       
"I sssaw that there would be Ss'thla who were curiousss, and not
xxxenophobic. Who would have what generationsss have lacked, in the new
air of a new world. I sssaw Orschh, but I did not know it." The
rattle-laugh of the Ss'thla broke on the desert wind. "I wasss ssso
consumed in Khefiraa philosssophy and the import of the hieroglyphicsss
that I did not truly sssee Orschh, assss I did not sssee ssso many
thingsss I ssshould have read. Onccce your ssship came, I wasss hopeful
that you would ssshow usss the new partsss of ourssselvesss:
curiosssity, that you have in abundanccce. I knew you were a turning
point becaussse the hieroglyphicssss ssspoke of the madness and pale,
bald onesss and after that date ssspeak differently of the Ss'thla."
            Ashne'e frowned. "The madness?"
            The rattle-laugh sprayed like a sprinkle of sand. "Yesss.
The one that hasss you pregnant. The Khefiraa will have it too. You will
sssee."
            Ashne'e's hand fluttered to her stomach, and speech drained
out of her. "How did you -" she started to ask, then realized. "My
smell. Of course."
            "No," answered Ssarish. "It isss a good time for my people,"
she continued, deftly twisting the conversation. "It isss time to
abandon sssome of our sstereotypess. Rahssh and Orschh were the black
ssheep of thisss camp. Rahssh hurt uss; yet Orschh isss good. The
othersss will think before they judge now. Sshall we thhrow away the
good with the bad?" Stilling the constant motion of her tail, the tall
reptile turned to face Ashne'e. It dwarfed her by nearly four feet;
Ashne'e had the sensation of being confronted by a god. "Thingsss are
not alwaysss what they ssseem. Ss'lih. Lisith. You. We Ss'thla do not
usssually trust mammalsss, but I perccceive that may be our fault, not
yoursss."
            With a regal acknowledgement, Ssarish departed wordlessly
back to the camp.
            Ashne'e stood for a moment and surveyed the horizon,
considering how the fate of a long-gone vibrant empire could be
inextricably entwined with that of a still-living one stagnant as an
unrippled pool.

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