Episode 23
Travelling Light E023S01 Transcript
[Title music: rhythmic electronic folk.]
H.R. Owen
Travelling Light: Episode Twenty Three.
[The music fades out.]
The Traveller
14th Nisa 850, continued.
Óli's words hung in the stillness like drops of ink in water. The observation deck is always quiet – it is far enough towards the front of the ship to avoid the worst of the engine's hum, and its high ceilings and soft curves seem to swallow sound made within. Even so, my voice sounded impossibly quiet when I spoke.
“What do you mean, Duytren gave you your freedom?”
Óli's eyes slipped away from mine, finding refuge in the star field beyond the window. “Have you ever heard of the Tilfar system?” they said eventually.
The name rang a distant bell, but I could not place it. “I do not think so,” I said.
“It is- [sighing] It was my home. It is a small system – only three planets, with four moons between them, not all of them inhabited. We are best known for our textiles – embroidery in particular.”
“Oh,” I said, remembering. “That is Duytren's speciality – textile traditions.”
“It is,” Óli confirmed. A sad smile came across their face. “That is how she recognised me. My clothes, the embroidery on them – it is not just decoration. It has meaning. Every stitch. It takes a lifetime to become fluent in- in reading the clothes of my people. But Duytren is… fluent enough.
Everything I wear proclaims my story. Do you see? The story of who I am. Of… what I am.”
We were so close now, the gravity of the conversation pulling us together. I could have counted the creases around their eyes.
“Tell me,” I breathed.
Another pause. Óli licked their lips, swallowed, tried to speak and tried again.
[clearing throat] “My parents are... [sighs] They are... system administrators.”
“W-What is wrong with that? Lots of people are system administrators.”
Óli stared at me. “No,” they said. “Not system administrators. They are system administrators.”
I was lost. “Uh… S-system administrators?” I repeatedly, quite uselessly.
“No! They are- Ugh!” Óli snatched up their translator device, tapping frantically at the interface. “They are system- No! System admin- Oh, for Zuen's sake!”
Suddenly, the door to the observation deck flew open. Hesje rushed in in a whirl of frantic energy.
“There you are!” they exclaimed, rushing over to us. They gave Óli a fraught, barely polite smile and turned their full attention to me. “I'm dreadfully sorry for interrupting but I very much need to speak to you. Alone.”
“Can it not wait one moment!” I tried to say, but it was no use. The damage was already done. Óli's expression had slammed shut.
“Oh, do not worry about me,” they said, sweeping to their feet in a surge of elegant motion. “I was just leaving.”
Before I could stop them, they bobbed their head to Hesje and strode out of the room, letting the door close behind them with an irrefutable bang.
I rounded on Hesje. “This had better be important.”
“Important! Try life and death!”
This would have been more alarming if I were not by now familiar with Hesje's tendency towards hysterics. “Imminent life and death? Or more a sort of 'five to ten working days' sort of thing?”
That took the wind out of them. “Well, uh. Tomorrow, actually.”
“Right.” I gestured to the seat Óli had so recently, and rapidly, vacated. “Go on.”
They deflated onto the bench. “Duytren's come down with the flu. I don't think she's going to get better before we arrive on Koom and the thing is, we… [sighs] We have a rather important delivery scheduled.”
“You mean a smuggling deal?”
Hesje spluttered. [spluttering] “Well! If you want to be blunt about it! Duytren usually takes charge of things. She's used to this world, these people. She knows how to handle them.”
I could see the pieces coming together, but I still did not understand the picture they made. “I am not a smuggler, Hesje. I do not have any better chance of helping you on this than anyone else aboard.”
“But people like you! They feel relaxed around you, they tell you things.”
“And I am sure that would be very helpful if you wanted your criminal contacts to tell you all about the special soup their mothers used to make when they were poorly. Otherwise, I do not see what possible help I can be here.”
Hesje rolled their eyes. “It is not our contacts I'm worried about. It, uh… [sighs] Well, to be frank… It's me. Without Duytren there, it will be just me and Aman. And I… [sighs] I just don't think I'm up to it! Please. I just need some moral support.”
I was going to argue. This is not my forte, this is not anything I have ever imagined myself doing! But in the back my mind, I could not help but remember the strain I have felt aboard the Tola these last few weeks.
After all that I have said about wanting my travelling companions to trust me, it seems churlish to refuse such an opportunity to demonstrate that trustworthiness when the universe has landed it so squarely in my lap.
We are landing on Koom very shortly and I… think I have made up my mind. I shall have a day on the planet to collect myself before the exchange. I cannot tell whether I am grateful for the reprieve, or if I would rather get the whole matter over and done with. [laughs weakly]
I also cannot tell how I feel about the whole situation. I suppose I am glad that Hesje sees me as a person they can turn to in times like this. At the same time, there is a world of difference between quietly turning a blind eye to the activities of the Tola's crew, and being an active participant.
I have broken the law before, of course. Apart from being a necessity of life at times, the fact is, some laws are not worth keeping. But this is different. I cannot pretend that this is not… [sighs] different.
Hesje has made it sound as if my only job will be to stand beside them and exude a general aura of calm and well-being. They tell me nothing bad can happen, that it is all in hand, they just need some emotional support. I hope this is the case. I do not think this will be the case.
But I suppose I am committed now. By the time I next write to you, it will be from the other side of a line I never had any intention of crossing. By the Light…
Send my love to everyone at home, and please – keep me in your prayers.
[The click of a data stick being inserted into a drive that whirs as it reads]
The Traveller
Entry NI85014-7: Concerning the fate of the Resinni people of Anuar.
Key words: Anuar; community; diaspora; felu; flora and fauna; galactic history; identity; Judlan District; Judlan National Park; natural disaster; Resinni; Koom.
Notes:
The Judlan District Resinni Cultural Centre, nestled in the Judlan National Park, has a rather scraped-together air – a sense of well-meaning people earnestly doing their best with very little in the way of tangible resources.
The building slumps into its surroundings like a person at once proud of their own efforts, but undeniably exhausted. Inside, soft, patterned rugs carpet the floor, scrupulously clean but very worn. Embroidered hangings dress the walls, loose threads trailing here and there, faded where they catch the sun.
There is a shop containing magnets and rubbers bearing smudged simulacrums of the Centre logo, and a hot drinks machine bearing a hand-written Out Of Order sign. And beyond, the Centre museum – a single, stuffy room full of the smell of dust and old sunlight, complete with carefully calligraphed notecards.
The Resinni people are the descendants of Koom's first spacefarers – colonists of Koom's moon, Anuar. After surviving the initial rigours of establishing the colony, the people of Anuar flourished. Generations passed, and the colonists' descendants developed a unique culture, utterly distinct from their now-distant cousins on Koom.
But sadly, it could not last. Around a hundred years ago, Resinni scientists began to identify unusual weather patterns, and a dramatic increase in earthquakes and volcanic activity.
The data was clear. Nobody knew exactly when, but at some point in the near future – a matter of years, not decades – the Nuasir volcanic chain, a ridge of slumbering mountains that yawned across much of Anuar's largest continent, was going to erupt. And it would take the entire moon with it.
Just two years after the predictions were made, the Nuasir chain erupted, with catastrophic results. Anuar was swallowed up in fire and ash, the sun blotted out and the air filled with toxic gases.
Through exhaustive efforts by the combined Koom and Anuar governments, the people of Anuar were saved. They were welcomed to Koom as returning family, granted all legal rights afforded to citizens of the various countries where they settled.
But the rescue efforts could only go so far. Unfortunately, there was not enough time nor money nor hands to spare to save much of Anuar's wildlife.
So many species of animal and plant, wiped out. It was a communal trauma, a collective grief I cannot begin to comprehend. There is international day of mourning on Koom which commemorates the event, where the Resinni people observe their most stringent mourning traditions.
When they lived on Anuar, the Resinni enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with one of the creatures native to the moon: the felu. The felu lived in the rocky, mountainous regions of central Anuar, and was a keystone in the cycles of life and rebirth in the ecosystem there.
I confess, when I saw pictures in the museum, I was a little taken aback. Or rather… amused? [laughing] It was a very funny-looking animal! It had long legs and an even longer neck, and a face that I must say, does not inspire confidence in the acuity of the mind behind it.
The effect is only strengthened by the felu's habit of collecting various plants and grasses upon its head during mating season, where these ad hoc headdresses are used to impress prospective partners.
Notwithstanding its slightly comical appearance, over time the felu became a symbol of Resinni culture, emblematic of what it meant to live on Anuar and be part of the rhythms of life there. And so, naturally, after the evacuations it became a symbol of all the Resinni people had lost.
But there is a spark of hope. In the middle of the museum, sticking out like a sore thumb among the slumping, aged exhibits around it, there was something new. Shiny engraved plaques, images from the surrounding National Park, photos of young Resinni schoolchildren in traditional dress celebrating together.
The Nuasir eruption wiped out life on Anuar. But it did not silence its echoes. Researchers from Koom visited Anuar shortly after the catastrophe, and discovered the preserved remains of several species, both animal and plant.
It took a long time for Koom's technological ability to match the ambitions of its scientists. But after long, long years, it finally caught up. Almost a century after the disaster, and following years of experiments and ethics committees and funding applications, Koomian researchers achieved their goal.
Cloned from preserved tissue, grown in an artificial womb and brought to life through hopes and dreams and sheer bloody-minded will, a felu was born – alone in the universe, and adored by an entire planet.
Today, the felu – named Sosi after a character in Resinni folktale – roams the mountains of Judlan National Park. It is thriving, so far from a home it can never return to, a symbol of hope and resilience for the Resinni people. There are even talks of repeating the process with another specimen, creating a breeding pair.
Meanwhile, on Anuar, the skies are clearing. The soil is healing. A recent group of Resinni scientists visiting the surface reported signs of growth – tender green shoots wriggling their way, blinking and bright, into the sunlight.
[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 Andrew Zammit Montebello, with accompanying artwork available on our social media accounts.
If you've got an idea for an archive entry, we want to hear it. You can send us anything from a one line prompt to a fully written entry through our website, by email, or on social media. For more information, see the show notes.
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[Fade to silence.]
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