Mati stepped out of the examining room at the medical center onto a normal, full-gravity floor, and stood on her own two feet, steady and confident. She was greeted by her five fellow crew members, six or seven healers, and a handful of other well-wishers, including Glorm the docking controller and Drrrim-na the navigator. They were all clapping or stomping, smiling or calling in gleeful voices.
Mati turned red. “It doesn’t count,” she muttered. “There’s still a long list of things I can’t do.”
Sata noticed that her friend was holding in a grin. “Dance?” the navigator inquired.
Mati looked at the knowledge pad she carried. “In about . . . thirty days, real Satamia days.”
Sata bounced up and down, clapping.
Mati sighed. “I can’t do that for almost a year!”
The entire crew helped Mati and Rini move their things back to the ship, then partook of a relaxing meal on a balcony overlooking the star station’s main hall. When their plates were empty, Ilika announced a training experience that would help them understand something they had all glimpsed in passing.
After opening a heavy door on one side of a little-used corridor, the captain led his crew along a winding, dimly-lit tunnel. The walls were
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sometimes smooth and solid, at other places like the insides of hollowed-out boulders, and transparent.
At one point, Boro stood still for a moment, watching a green female lizard feed grubs to her scaly infant. If the tender morsel wiggled, she dangled it within reach until the child’s tongue shot out. If the grub was limp and lifeless, she tossed it aside.
Sata waited for Boro to catch up, but soon found herself watching four large, blue males playing some kind of game in a small cave. At times, it seemed like a game of chance as they tossed bones onto the sand. At other times, it became a game of strength when two, after roaring about a roll of the bones, grabbed each other and wrestled for a minute.
As Kibi watched a lanky male caress a plump female, she felt Ilika at her side. “Are they mates?” she asked in a soft voice, fearing to disturb the intimate scene so close at hand.
“Yes. She’s carrying three girls and one boy, and the birth rate is so low right now, they’ll be carefully protected, probably spoiled.”
Kibi smiled for a moment, then frowned. “They know it’s not a real planet.
I can tell.”
“Yes, they know. They’re very intelligent and sensitive. That’s one reason the birth rate is so low.”
Rini looked at everything with curious eyes. “You’re sure they can’t see us, Ilika?”
“It just looks like rocks on the outside. Light and sound only passes one way.”
Mati moved slowly, with Rini or Sata always near. She looked and listened at each observation point, and often wore a frown.
The crew members of the Manessa Kwi observed public meetings in large caverns, tense with disagreement. Hushed business transactions in dark corners sometimes ended with bows and other gestures of respect, more often with a fight. Intimate encounters between males and females occasionally resulted in mating, but usually just snapping and hissing.
“Why are we seeing all this?” Mati suddenly barked. “It seems like . . . it’s none of our business!”
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Rini squeezed her hand.
“Training,” Ilika replied after considering Mati’s question. “This is one of the things we do. These noble creatures would be extinct right now, but for the efforts of the Nebador Services, guided by much greater knowledge and wisdom. To help them find a new home, we have to understand them.”
Ilika watched until Mati nodded, then continued to lead them along the tunnel.
The captain and crew witnessed several more glimpses of the public and private lives of the homeless reptiles. Their temporary lodgings were nothing but a simulated desert environment on a star station orbiting a star called Satamia. The reptiles had no knowledge of that star, except as a point of light, like any other, in the night sky they once knew.
The frown soon returned to Mati’s face.
A small blue glow followed at a distance.
After half an hour of walking along the tunnel, Ilika could see that his crew was tired and hungry. He didn’t linger at the last few observation points, and walked right past a closed door.
Mati, at the end of the line, paused to read the words on the door.
Caution: simulated environment beyond.
Sata waited for her friend at the next bend in the tunnel.
Mati stood at the door, frozen, her brow wrinkled with indecision.
“Mati!” Sata called. “The others are almost at the exit door! What are you doing?”
Mati hesitated one more second, then pushed on the door in front of her.
She heard a soft beep, and felt the door move slightly at her push, but her new leg muscles began screaming at her. “Sata, help me!”
The navigator glanced along the tunnel, and saw Boro disappearing through the exit door into the star station corridor beyond. She looked back at her pilot, still trying to open the door with its words of warning. After one more breath, and a few quick strides, she was beside her friend. The door responded to Sata’s greater strength and opened a little.
“That’s enough,” Mati declared, seeing sand and small rocks on the ground
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beyond the door. She quickly kicked at the ground until a pebble bounced onto the door sill. “I just want to give them a chance.”
Sata’s heart throbbed as she watched Mati ease the door most of the way closed, but could see by the yellow symbol that it had not latched.
When Sata and Mati finally arrived at the exit door, Boro was holding it for them. “What took you guys so long?”
“Just taking one last look,” Mati replied with a smile.
Sata didn’t dare open her mouth. As she stepped into the corridor, not far from the observation window with its benches and perches, she wondered how long her heart would continue to throb loudly in her chest.
Rini turned and looked at Mati. I don’t know if that will do them any good, but I’ll always be at your side, no matter what.
Mati smiled at him.
The fuzzy blue light remained in the tunnel near the door to the simulated environment.
Deep Learning Notes
After major surgery, every patient gets a list of things they can’t do for a while, sometimes a long while. Some activities may never again be possible, as damaged muscles and connective tissues that have healed are never as strong or flexible as the original, undamaged ones. Mati’s long recovery time before jumping comes from the author’s own experience: it was jumping (les changements) that stopped him from ballet dancing after an accident (while skating).
In our world, with rare exceptions, pets, zoo animals, refugees, hospital patients, and other dependent persons, get little or no privacy, and are often not allowed to have the relationships that would occur in a natural environment. What justifications might there be for this? To what extent might this be unjustified?
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What experiences in Mati’s life probably caused her to want to “give them a chance”?
What do we know about Sata’s personality that caused her to help Mati, but then feel guilty about it?
Why do you think the small blue light didn’t close the door, or get someone who could?
