too young to have been educated in the time before our people claimed the Earth.”
“I was fifteen when you attacked. I’d been through roughly ten years of schooling and would have studied more advanced subjects and specialties for another five to ten years after that before I was considered fully educated for the profession I wanted as a doctor. But my father was an educated man and he taught me from those books and others. I had a small solar-powered computer unit before I was captured that had the text of hundreds of books on it. I don’t know what happened to it. Maybe it’s still in my last camp.” Rick shrugged, trying not to indicate how deeply the loss of his books had hurt. But then, the aliens probably wouldn’t understand regret any more than they understood fear or emotional pain of any kind.
“If I had the soldiers search for it, would you show us the books?”
Rick wondered at the question. He knew damn well the aliens didn’t need him to show them anything. If they wanted to see the books, with their advanced technology they’d discover a way to download them.
It wasn’t as if they were encrypted or anything. This Mara 36 had to have some motive in asking, but Rick would play along for now. He was curious about these aliens. Perhaps if he learned more about them, he’d discover some weakness and be able to give them a little payback for what they’d done to humanity—or more specifically, for what they’d done to his family.
“Yeah, I’ll show you the books, if that’s what you want. I’d like to read some of them again myself.
There’s not much to do when you’re stuck in a prison cell twenty-four/seven.”
“Twenty-four/seven? What does this mean?”
“It’s an old expression meaning literally all the time. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. It’s how we count time. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, etc. All based on the Earth’s rotation around the Sun.”
The alien looked startled for a scant second before the usual bland expression reclaimed his face.
“Interesting. Will you discuss this with one of our chronomaticians? I believe they would be interested in the primitive measurements. We use a similar system for each planet we inhabit.”
“I’m not an expert, but I’ll tell you what I know. There are probably some folks in the pens with more knowledge on the topic than me. I know for a fact, there’s a woman named Sadie in the cell across from mine who was an astronomer. She’d be able to explain it all in much more detail.”
Sadie was also sickly and the damp cells—though not dungeon-like, but still subterranean—were not good for her lungs. Rick would be happy if she got a chance to come up here once in a while to breathe less humid air.
29
Mara 36 nodded. “A good suggestion. I will pass it along.” He turned abruptly back to the girl. “Now, as for this one. What is your opinion as a medical professional?”
“I never claimed to be a professional, but right off the bat, I can tell you she’s scared.”
“This is something we don’t yet fully understand. Fear is foreign to us.”
Rick felt his anger rise again, but did his best to control it. “That much is obvious from the way you torture some of us. Human women were habitually treated gently in our society. They were to be protected and nurtured so they could in turn nurture their chosen mates and children. Not always, of course. There are exceptions to every rule. But women, generally, were treated as the gentler sex, to be respected and protected.”
“And you still adhere to these ways? My observations have led me to believe that most males will mount any female presented to him.”
Rick wanted to curse, but kept his cool. “Starve a creature and most will turn feral. Men have strong sexual drives and since the destruction of our society, more than a few have become no better than animals. I’m not one of them.”
“Commendable, but impractical
“I was fifteen when you attacked. I’d been through roughly ten years of schooling and would have studied more advanced subjects and specialties for another five to ten years after that before I was considered fully educated for the profession I wanted as a doctor. But my father was an educated man and he taught me from those books and others. I had a small solar-powered computer unit before I was captured that had the text of hundreds of books on it. I don’t know what happened to it. Maybe it’s still in my last camp.” Rick shrugged, trying not to indicate how deeply the loss of his books had hurt. But then, the aliens probably wouldn’t understand regret any more than they understood fear or emotional pain of any kind.
“If I had the soldiers search for it, would you show us the books?”
Rick wondered at the question. He knew damn well the aliens didn’t need him to show them anything. If they wanted to see the books, with their advanced technology they’d discover a way to download them.
It wasn’t as if they were encrypted or anything. This Mara 36 had to have some motive in asking, but Rick would play along for now. He was curious about these aliens. Perhaps if he learned more about them, he’d discover some weakness and be able to give them a little payback for what they’d done to humanity—or more specifically, for what they’d done to his family.
“Yeah, I’ll show you the books, if that’s what you want. I’d like to read some of them again myself.
There’s not much to do when you’re stuck in a prison cell twenty-four/seven.”
“Twenty-four/seven? What does this mean?”
“It’s an old expression meaning literally all the time. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. It’s how we count time. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, etc. All based on the Earth’s rotation around the Sun.”
The alien looked startled for a scant second before the usual bland expression reclaimed his face.
“Interesting. Will you discuss this with one of our chronomaticians? I believe they would be interested in the primitive measurements. We use a similar system for each planet we inhabit.”
“I’m not an expert, but I’ll tell you what I know. There are probably some folks in the pens with more knowledge on the topic than me. I know for a fact, there’s a woman named Sadie in the cell across from mine who was an astronomer. She’d be able to explain it all in much more detail.”
Sadie was also sickly and the damp cells—though not dungeon-like, but still subterranean—were not good for her lungs. Rick would be happy if she got a chance to come up here once in a while to breathe less humid air.
29
Mara 36 nodded. “A good suggestion. I will pass it along.” He turned abruptly back to the girl. “Now, as for this one. What is your opinion as a medical professional?”
“I never claimed to be a professional, but right off the bat, I can tell you she’s scared.”
“This is something we don’t yet fully understand. Fear is foreign to us.”
Rick felt his anger rise again, but did his best to control it. “That much is obvious from the way you torture some of us. Human women were habitually treated gently in our society. They were to be protected and nurtured so they could in turn nurture their chosen mates and children. Not always, of course. There are exceptions to every rule. But women, generally, were treated as the gentler sex, to be respected and protected.”
“And you still adhere to these ways? My observations have led me to believe that most males will mount any female presented to him.”
Rick wanted to curse, but kept his cool. “Starve a creature and most will turn feral. Men have strong sexual drives and since the destruction of our society, more than a few have become no better than animals. I’m not one of them.”
“Commendable, but impractical
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