Episode 19
Travelling Light E019S01 Transcript
[Title music: rhythmic electronic folk.]
H.R. Owen
Travelling Light: Episode Nineteen.
[The music fades out.]
The Traveller
1st Nisa 850, continued.
It felt only fair that I should be the one to accompany Duytren to the medical centre. After all, I was the one who'd sent her there. Fortunately the bleeding had mostly come to a stop by the time we reached the lift terminal, so we did not attract too many stares as we went.
I had expected Verkaren City to be rather like a station, or perhaps a very large ship, being entirely enclosed as it is. Everything aboard a ship or a space station must be carefully planned in advance, to make the best use of limited space and resources, and much the same is true of building underground.
But unlike Makeba Station, Verkaren City has had generations over which to slowly grow and shape itself. It sprawls like a surface city, full of twists and turns and little idiosyncrasies borne of the whims and habits of its inhabitants. It feels more grown than built, as all great cities do.
On Makeba, every path was calculated for maximum efficiency. There were no snickets or alleys to duck through, no shortcuts or hidden entryways. But in Verkaren City, one can improvise, tripping down a tempting side street or turning this corner rather than that.
And there is wildlife here, with all the unchecked energy that brings. Plants billow out from containers beside the walkways and climb in spiralling tendrils across the shops and residential units that sit in stacks upon each other, row on row.
Native creatures from the surface have come in from the cold, finding a strange new home here underground. And there are other animals too, stray pets and their feral descendents, trotting down the street or sniffing at the rubbish bins, while in the tangle of pipes and wires above our heads, bird flutter and sing.
There is even, I am told, a park further in towards the centre, with trees – real trees! Small trees, but still – trees!
“If you want to go and explore, feel free,” said Duytren. “I can find my way.”
“No! No, I-I said I would come with you and I will.”
Duytren made a noise like she wanted to snort, but wasn't about to risk it. “Is this about getting me to the med centre in one piece, or you doing penance?”
“We do not go in for penance in my faith. But all the same, I cannot tell you-”
“What, how sorry you are? That hasn't stopped you trying.”
[sighing] “Have I been overdoing it? Sorry. No, I mean- Uh, that was to say sorry for apologising too much, I-I didn't mean- Ugh!” I scrambled around, desperate for a change of subject. “So! Did you know Aman and Wolph were cousins?”
Duytren laughed, obviously entertained by my conversational gymnastics, but she took mercy on me. “I think I did, actually,” she said.
“There is not much resemblance between them,” I noted. “I thought they were different species.”
“Not quite. Aman's a Quvett, and so's Wolph's mum. That's where he gets his size from – his dad's tiny, barely comes up to Wolph's elbow.”
This was a delightful image. “How wonderful!”
“Uh-huh. And Wolph's shorter than his mum. They build 'em big on Quver.”
[laughs] “Have you known them long?”
“Oh, Wolph and Aman? No. We met on the boat, same as you. The university needed a pilot for the Tola, and when they hired Aman, she brought Wolph along. She showed me some family pictures one night, that's all.”
“Oh. I see.”
I fell quiet, letting the silence sit between us. I was reminded of what Hesje had told me on Makeba Station, about how the Tola had come into the university's possession – and how Doctor Duytren had been the one to suggest the illicit means by which Hesje now sought to pay for the expense.
“Do they know? Wolph and Aman, I mean.”
Duytren frowned. “Know what?”
I hesitated, trying to find a delicate way of putting it. “About what you're using the ship for. Hesje told me,” I said, unaccountably apologetic.
“Oh for God's sake, Hess!” Duytren cursed, aiming it upwards as if it might bounce off the ceiling and reach Hesje by echo. “So much for keeping shtum! [sighs] Yes, Aman and Wolph know. Everyone knows, apart from you and your gangly friend. And now just them, I suppose.”
We had reached the doors of the medical centre, and Duytren rounded on me, fixing me with a fierce look. Between the fire in her eyes and the blood on her face, it was quite effective.
“Listen. I don't know what Hesje told you about me, but if you're thinking of dobbing us in it-”
“You do not have to threaten me, Duytren.”
“I'm not threatening you. Trust me, you'll know when I'm threatening you.”
“Is that so? Because you are sounding very threatening.” I took a step closer, holding her gaze. “If I were going to 'dob you in it', I should have done it by now. As it is, I see no reason to make a fuss over something which I frankly do not have any real objection to. And as for what Hesje told me about you…”
Duytren's expression, which had softened somewhat, went hard and cold as I said this. I pressed on.
“She did not tell me anything. Not really. All it amounted to was that you have a past, as anyone might. And I do not know whether you care at all, but to be clear, whatever that past might be, it does not change my opinion of you.”
Duytren tilted her head back, eyeing me warily. “Oh. And what opinion is that?”
“That you are a basically decent, if startlingly arrogant, person whom I would not mind getting to know better should the opportunity should present itself.”
Her mouth twisted, as if she were holding back a smile. “Well. I can work with that.”
“Good. Now get in there and get your nose fixed so that I can go back to the ship and get some lunch.”
[laughs] “Cor! When you stop apologising, you really stop apologising, don't you?”
We were not long in the medical centre, and soon enough, Duytren was patched up and sent back to the Tola with some painkillers and reassurance that the break should heal on its own in a matter of weeks.
I do not know if this is the beginning of a real friendship between us. I am not sure how much of her authentic self I have seen even in these long weeks of travelling. There is so much swagger to her, it is hard to see where the performance ends and the real person begins.
But she showed me a little of her underbelly today, vulnerable and snappish with it. I cannot imagine having a past I wanted to keep hidden. It must be very wearing.
Good grief, this letter has taken on a life of its own! I shall keep my next to the scantiest details – mere bullet points, a gesture towards a tale and nothing more. [laughs] Send my love to everyone. I shall write again soon.
[The click of a data stick being inserted into a drive that whirs as it reads]
The Traveller
Entry NI85001-3: An interview about the use of nanobots in Verkarenite human history.
Key words: community; galactic history; health and well-being; humans; identity; interview; nanobots; nanotechnology; Verkaren; Verkaren City.
Notes:
Since leaving Emerraine, I have felt very attuned to the presence of other humans. Among all the glittering newness of what I have seen on my travels, it is comforting to see something as familiar as my own body reflected back at me.
So when I saw an older human woman sitting in the waiting room of the Verkaren City medical centre, I was naturally intrigued. She was alone, waiting for a routine check-up, and was quite happy to chat when I struck up conversation.
Her name was Ragna, and she had moved to the city to be closer to her children and grandchildren. She was a small woman, bright-eyed and bony, and upon her arms, her chest and neck, and over one eye, her skin was adorned in blocky, geometric patterns of dark ink.
After speaking for a while, I offered my compliments on the striking beauty of the tattoos.
“Well, now I know you have not been to Verkaren before!” Ragna laughed. I was worried I had made some kind of faux pas, but she reassured me. “Don't fret, my love. You've not caused any offence. But these aren't tattoos. Or, not just tattoos, anyway. These are nanobots.”
“They're legal here?” I asked, astonished.
“They had better be – more than 80% of the human population here has them. And that's down from when I was a girl. It used to be closer to 100%.”
I needed to hear her story. I asked if she would be willing to speak for the archives and once I had bought her a fresh cup of tea from the machine in the corner of the waiting room, she began.
“When I was a girl, nobody came to Verkaren. It was a cold, lonely, out of the way little rock that nobody cared about unless they lived here. We had traders, of course, and merchants supplying the city. But nobody came just for the sake of coming.
That's all changed now. It's the translator tech that's done it. Used to be that travelling the galaxy was only for people rich enough to hire translators wherever they went, or rich enough to spend half their life learning new languages.
But now, you and I can sit together and gab away like old friends, and never mind that I've not a clue what language you speak. The galaxy has opened up. Travelling still costs money, of course, but it's not like it was.
Back then, people didn't visit Verkaren, and they certainly didn't move here. There were the native people – the Blaskae, the Hnorars, the Tedoiro and the rest.
And there was us. Verkarenite humans. Every one of us descended from the same group of human settlers who arrived here so long ago we barely know a thing about them.
I mean, [sighs] I say “human” – if anyone on Verkaren tells you they're 100% human, they're lying, to you or to themselves. But, you know. Human enough.
Thing is, unlike the Blaskae, the Hnorars, the Tedoiro and the rest, we weren't evolved for this place. It was too dark, too cold, too wild. We needed a bit of a helping hand.
So our ancestors developed the nanobots – tiny little helpers who could be added directly to the blood stream and programmed to help keep the human body safe and well in a place it was never supposed to be.
Obviously it worked, I wouldn't be sitting here today if it hadn't worked! [laughs] My ancestors adapted, made Verkaren their home – became as much Verkarenites as the Blaskae, the Hnorars, the Tedoiro and the rest. We became part of the planet, and the nanobots became part of us.
Bodies are very efficient machines when they want to be. They won't spend energy doing what they don't have to. Over time, our bodies got so used to the nanobots keeping us in check, they lost the ability to function without them. Without the nanobots, we can't survive.
More than that, nanobots are part of our culture. My tattoos don't just keep my body running, heal me when I'm sick or hurt. They tell people who I am, who my people are, the world I live in.
When I say we wouldn't survive without nanobots, I don't just mean physically. Verkarenite humans as a culture, as a concept, wouldn't survive without them. We just… [sighs] Well we wouldn't be us any more.
Which is fine on Verkaren. But you know yourself, most places in the galaxy have very strict laws about nanotech, if they haven't banned it altogether. Took me a long time to understand why.
To us, nanobots are nothing but good. In thousands of years since coming here, the thought has never arisen in our culture to use this technology for harm. It would be beyond sacrilege.
But it is dangerous. I know that, logically. It has the power to alter people on a fundamental level – as my people know all too well. Even with the best intentions behind its use, I can understand people's squeamishness.
Unfortunately, that squeamishness leaves my people out in the cold. So to speak. You won't see use again once you leave here. We can't get past the security checks to go off-planet. Nobody dare let us through their ports.
It wasn't an issue years ago, when nobody thought of leaving the planet anyway. But I know the young ones are frustrated, seeing their friends from the Blaskae, the Hnorars, the Tedoiro and the rest all making the most of opportunities they will never have.
There are petitions, campaigns, people are pushing back. Perhaps one day, my people will be allowed to see the galaxy like everybody else. Until then? Well. Perhaps I am old fashioned – or just old. [laughs] But one planet's always been enough for me.”
[Title music: rhythmic instrumental folk. It plays throughout the closing credits.]
H.R. Owen
Travelling Light was created by H.R. Owen and Matt McDyre, and is a Monstrous Productions podcast. This episode was written and performed by H.R. Owen.
This week’s entry to the archives was based on an idea by the Menagerie, with accompanying artwork available on our social media accounts.
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[Fade to silence.]
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