Sometime the following day, after half an hour of guided meditation, then a lecture by one of the avians on the Psychic Development staff, Kibi received her next assignment.
She stepped out the door into the quiet patio with its bubbling fountain, remembered Toran Takil, and wondered if he had also endured humiliating assignments. Somehow, it was difficult to imagine the big cat, or Ilika, the captain of a ship, doing what she was about to do.
She looked at the scrub brush in her right hand and the bucket of blue solvent in her left, and sighed.
With heavy feet, she dragged herself along the paths, ramps, and stairs that eventually brought her to a balcony overlooking the main hall of the star station. The Satamia sun flooded the room with light, and the large leaves of the great station tree reached out to catch the rays. With a look on her face close to a pout, Kibi realized it would be many, many hours, nearly three days by her reckoning, before the next evening dance party.
Kibi leaned over the balcony and looked at the huge floor below. She judged it to be about the size of the entire marketplace in the capital city of her kingdom. Again she sighed.
Creatures of all sorts came and went, or lounged on couches, perches, or in pools. She noticed a group of four reptiles whose bracelets all chimed at once, and they hurried away. Kibi could only guess what their mission might be.
She glanced at her own bracelet and wondered if it would save her from the task at hand. “Dream on, Kibi,” she mumbled to herself. “You’re probably off-duty until the floor’s spotless.”
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Her mind wandered back to her parting words with Memsala.
The whole floor? But . . . where should I start?
Start . . . in the middle.
Kibi looked over the balcony railing again. The middle of the huge room was the busiest part, with people going every which way, pallets of stuff floating by every few moments, and avians taking off and landing.
Kibi sighed once more, then pointed her feet in the direction of a downward ramp.
As she stood in the exact middle of the great room, bucket and brush in hand, many things came to mind that seemed better than getting down on her hands and knees and scrubbing the floor. Slavery. Death. Lots of things.
People passed by going in all directions. Some moved quickly while reading bracelet displays or knowledge pads. Others were more relaxed, surveying the available eating places.
She knew she didn’t have to do it. Sorrano had quit. Probably many others. She could just march back up to the Psychic Development room and tell Memsala . . .
Two voices came out of her memory, and listening, she put off making a decision.
First, she heard Ilika. Kibi, you have command of the Manessa Kwi.
It was not the words themselves that touched her heart, but rather the feeling deep inside herself every time she heard them. As a slave, nothing she did mattered much. If she died in the middle of a job, the owner would just get another slave to do the same job.
But the Manessa Kwi was a deep-space response ship, the fastest ship in the universe, ready to go into the farthest reaches of the unknown. She had been on the star station long enough to know that most citizens of Nebador looked up to the Transport Service crews, and the majority of those citizens, for one reason or another, did jobs that were simpler and easier.
Then she heard another voice from the recent past.
The next time I look into your eyes, Kibi, I want to find an equal, a citizen of Nebador, strong and true.
Deep inside herself, Kibi looked forward to that day. She wanted to look
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into Toran Takil’s eyes again, and know in her heart that she had earned her Nebador citizenship, the stewardship of the Manessa Kwi, and Ilika’s loving touch.
She wasn’t aware of it, but a look of determination was forming on her face. Without further thought, she knelt down and started scrubbing.
Rini was giddy with excitement when Mati finally awoke, and K’stimla had to give him a stern look. “She still needs lots of rest, and with your new link, she can’t get that unless you relax too.”
Rini smiled and took several deep breaths.
Once Mati was lifted out of the healing tank, the surgeon and two assistants examined all the surgery sites. “The skin is healing quickly, bok,”
one healer said.
K’stimla looked at the reptile.
“True,” he said, “but the muscles will knit much more slowly. Nutrition is now extremely important.”
The surgeon nodded. “You two are in charge of that. Be firm with Rini.”
Both assistants nodded, and Rini blushed.
Kibi’s moment of willful determination quickly wore off. She didn’t dare look around, but knew everyone was staring at her. She kept scrubbing.
She could almost feel their glaring eyes, burning holes in her back. She could easily imagine their thoughts, gossiping about the stupid monkey mammal scrubbing the floor in the middle of the busiest room on the star station. Tears started coming, but she continued scrubbing.
She kept her eyes on the floor, but could almost feel feet and claws getting ready to kick her or rip her clothes, maybe even her skin. She started crying freely, and her tears mingled with the blue solvent, but she didn’t dare look up. She scrubbed harder and faster, hoping beyond hope that she could finish before they killed her.
Mati’s special bed was floated into their little room and placed beside Rini’s bed. A tray with a strange variety of fruits and vegetables arrived, and Rini began feeding his beloved friend, telling her about recent events while
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she chewed. Between bites she shared what little she remembered since they had last spoken, including images from her strange dreams.
They soon discovered that when one or both of them were eating, they didn’t have to cease sharing thoughts and feelings, as their mouths and ears were no longer necessary.
Kibi nearly jumped out of her skin when the claw-like feet of a large spider appeared next to her. She steeled herself to be laughed at, poked, and bitten.
The arachnid raised two of its legs, and Kibi flinched, but at the same moment she noticed something on its feet. The spider plunged both legs, and the small scrub brushes they held, into the solvent bucket, then began scrubbing the floor where Kibi’s work left off.
She began laughing and crying at the same time.
About an hour after they finished the tray, the young couple was still chatting, sometimes silently, sometimes aloud. The avian healer came in and announced it was time to let Mati get some sleep.
The young couple agreed, and Rini got comfortable with a knowledge pad, his place marked in a book about the evolution of stars.
Even though no more spoken words were heard, giggles or chuckles slipped out every few minutes, and Rini made little progress in his book.
Kibi finally found the courage to look.
All around her, creatures of every kind were arriving with scrub brushes.
More buckets of solvent appeared. Some of the helpers worked alone, but she also spotted entire crews of six or eight of the same kind. Soon the clean spots on the floor were merging with each other and connecting with Kibi’s own small area.
Kibi stretched up from her knees and beheld several birds setting out purple marker cones, then moving them as the work progressed.
She dried her face on her sleeves and plunged her brush into the bucket.
An hour later, Mati’s thoughts became sluggish. Okay, I really am getting sleepy, so you have to take a nap too, or go find something to do.
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He kissed her on the lips. I’m gonna read a little, then maybe take a nap too. Good night!
Mati mumbled something, then let sleep take her.
From her knees, Kibi met the captain of a passenger transport ship, an avian whose entire crew of twenty was skillfully moving the marker cones so people and pallets could get by while the scrubbing work continued.
She thanked the captain with bird-like bows of her head as she dipped her brush again.
All around her, more and more teams of helpers appeared, set to work, and quickly had marker cones keeping people off their sections of wet floor.
Kibi estimated it would all be done in another quarter hour.
The next time she glanced up, something strange caught her eye. Not far away, a lone scrub brush appeared to be moving all by itself. Kibi blinked several times, but still saw no one pushing it. Then, on a hunch, she let herself shift into a meditative state of mind.
Slowly, she began to perceive the forest-green glow that hovered over the scrub brush.
“Thank you, Kerloran,” she said softly.
Kibi heard no words of response, but had the impression that someone hugged her gently, just for a moment.
The steward of the deep-space response ship Manessa Kwi scrubbed until every part of the floor was clean. Then she wandered around the huge room, thanking all her helpers, exchanging bows and kind words, receiving names and offers of friendship. As she wandered, she picked up marker cones when sections of floor were dry, and stacked them in the storeroom the avian captain showed her.
When she finally arrived, alone with her scrub brush and empty bucket, back in the Psychic Development room, Memsala was with another student, so Kibi sat and meditated.
Perhaps an hour later, Kibi felt the presence of the old and wise giant sea turtle. She took some grounding breaths and opened her eyes.
“So, my dear Kibi, what did you learn?”
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Deep Learning Notes
If you were in Kibi’s shoes, would you have been able to do what your teacher asked by getting down on your knees and scrubbing the floor? What qualities in your teacher would increase the chances of you doing it? What would decrease the chances? What other relationships in your life would help you make the decision?
If you had a telepathic link with someone, the ways in which communication would be easier are pretty obvious. In what ways would communication be more difficult?
What are the sources of Kibi’s initial fears about what would happen while she scrubbed the floor?
What qualities does a meditative state of mind have (that would allow Kibi to see Kerloran) that her state of mind did NOT have when she first started scrubbing?
Why, in your opinion, did Kerloran help scrub the floor?
What did Kibi learn by scrubbing the floor of Satamia Star Station’s main hall?
