Kaleem replayed Razjosh’s message several times. It
was really very scary. If the Terrestrans couldn’t accept the Zandrians’ terms,
there would be no hope of getting the vaccine back to Terrestra. And without
the vaccine, more people were going to die.
He called up a news channel.
‘Seventeen more deaths,’ said the news robot. ‘All in the X
sector. Concern is growing that an antidote will not be found quickly enough.’
That’s not really true, thought Kaleem. There could
be thousands dying and they wouldn’t actually say.
‘They’re letting out enough facts to keep people on their
toes,’ Razjosh had said. ‘But not enough to cause panic. If people really knew
how bad it’s become, then there would be even more riots.’
Kaleem flicked back to Razjosh’s message. The hologram was
really very convincing. It looked even more real than the ones from the Elders’
Citadel. That Supercraft must really be something.
Razjosh looked serious and tired.
‘We have to step up the programme even further,’ said the
old man. ‘It won’t be easy, I know. You’re working pretty well flat out now.
And there’ll be more visits to holographed planets. We have to move on even
more quickly.’
It was that hesitation again. Kaleem could not help but
think that Razjosh actually wanted to tell him something extra, but didn’t dare
to. At least not from so many light years away and in holographic form. And he couldn’t
begin to guess what that may be. New Hidden Information then?
The dataserve’s communicator sounded.
‘Receive,’ commanded Kaleem.
Kaleem felt his stomach turn as he recognised Oxton Mesrip,
one of three medical workers assigned to look after Maria. It was all piling in
now. Had Maria got worse?
But the man was smiling. ‘We have some good news,’ said
Oxton. ‘Your mother has woken up. She is not yet speaking and she is still very
weak, but she has come out of the coma. She has no fever, and it seems that she
is fighting the disease and is winning.’
‘I should be there,’ said Kaleem.
‘Er, no you can’t can you?’ said Oxton. ‘Remember there is
still a movement ban on. We want to keep a very close eye on her and conduct
further tests. And we don’t want too much excitement for her at the moment. But
we’ll keep you informed.’
The screen went blank. Kaleem felt almost relieved that he
hadn’t got to go out again. But what was it going to be like now? Was it going
to perhaps be even worse now that Maria was awake? Would she go back to being
how she had been before? Or would she need him to look after her? Would she
improve enough to leave the medical centre? Or would she be forever in this
strange state? This disease was so unknown. Perhaps Razjosh would be able to
tell him more when he got back.
A news flash message came on the screen. This time it was
one of the more familiar human newsreaders who spoke.
‘A Supercraft Excelsior has been spotted making its way
towards Terrestra,’ said the man. For once he did not speak in the normal even
tones of the news presenters. His voice seemed agitated and his face was
clearly strained. ‘It entered the exclusion zone at Universal Time 15.23 this
afternoon. A broadcast from another Supercraft of unknown origin, has assured
the authorities that this means no harm to Terrestra. However, it has been
considered that this could be a hoax. In the next few hours, a decision will be
made about whether to consider this a hostile approach and therefore what
action if any should be taken. Keep your news channels open to stay informed.’
This was ridiculous. The Supercraft had been sent with the
Elders’ approval. So why didn’t the news channels know? Was the Supercraft
going to Zandra Hidden Information? Or Golden Knowledge? They must know about it. Maybe they did.
Maybe somebody was giving away information they should have kept secret. Or
maybe the news creators had just kept their eyes and ears open.
Kaleem’s stomach turned again. There was definitely going to
be trouble. No way would the Terrestran authorities let that Zandrian Supercraft
get anywhere near Terrestra. Even if it was on an aid mission. They wouldn’t
stop to ask.
It’s going to be a complete disaster, he thought.
This definitely took the edge away from the good news about his mother.
He opened a data file from Razjosh. It was in Wordtext.
Kaleem could read that quite easily now. It was almost a relief now to be doing
some ordinary work. Normally, this would have seemed tedious. But today he was
glad to have something to get on with that took his mind off these other
matters.
‘There is a universal grammar,’ he read. ‘Every language
needs to express past, present and future tenses, active and passive voices,
indicative and subjunctive moods.’
Kaleem scratched around at the back of his mind. Yes, he could just
about remember what that meant.
He read on.
‘Always there will be a default word order. In some
languages parts of speech are indicated by word order. In others, inflections
are used. But every language must indicate who is doing what in each sentence.’
Kaleem though he could just about grasp what this meant. And
inflections - wasn’t that like the endings on words in languages like German?
‘Each language uses its prepositions differently. But each
prepositional idea you have in your own language must be expressed somehow in
the language you are studying, as will all notions of time.’
Now that did sound familiar. In English you went by car but
in German you went with it.
‘There will in any case be idiomatic uses of words and expressions
in all languages. They must be learnt as separate entities. And finally, each
language will have a system of gender and plurals, some languages being more
complex than others in these matters.’
Yes, he knew that! That was such a lot to learn sometimes.
‘These then are the five fundamental points of any grammar
system. Look for them in any language. Knowledge of this will actually
accelerate structural competence.’
Ah! thought
Kaleem, and then there’s all the rest.
All those words, and all the different bits and pieces you need to know to do
those things.
‘And as if all that is not enough, plus the whole word
system which underlies all of this, you have to get used to all those cultural
differences. So, we’ll soon need to work more with the holograms.’
Ha! Ha! Ha!
thought Kaleem. Well, I’ve got my work
cut out, then, haven’t I?
He was just about to open one of his other data files. He
did not have chance to, though, because the news channel cut in again. This
time it was an override news flash. It was the same newscaster as before. This
time he looked even more strained.
‘We regret to announce,’ he said in that voice that the
newscasters reserved for the most serious bits of news, ‘that the arrival of
the Supercraft Excelsior has indeed been deemed to be an act of aggression. A
verbal warning was given. This was ignored, and the protection authorities had
no alternative than to fire warning shots. One of them damaged the right wing
of the Supercraft. The damage was only superficial and in no way has harmed its
functioning. It has now turned away from the planet. A tracker has been
attached to find out its origin.’
So stupid, thought
Kaleem. The Supercraft Excelsior had come in peace. It had brought a source of
help in the fight against this terrible disease. And the Terrestrans had
attacked it. Why didn’t they know that? So
what is a Peace Child supposed to do about that?
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