might have been the polar regions of New Earth, or anywhere on Serendipity. Not Njal and Milkgaard, because those worlds had no birds and one picture showed a flock of birds in the distance – until Silver turned up the magnification. Whatever they were, they were not birds. Not with those horse heads, black scales and bat-black wings. But there was a word for them in human history, and the name Dragon unfolded in Kin’s mind.
There was a seascape, and unless there was something very wrong with the size of the waves, the snake-headed beast looping through them was fully a kilometre long.
There were distant views of what might have been cities. There were several sunsets, at least one taken from the air, and a number of night shots of starscapes.
‘Go back to the aerial sunset,’ said Kin. ‘Now what’s wrong?’
‘Horizon’s odd,’ said Marco.
It was. The curve was oddly flattened. There was something else wrong too, something Kin couldn’t immediately spot.
‘Apart from that, it could be any human world,’ observed Silver.
‘Funny,’ said Kin. ‘Jalo talked about a flat Earth, not just a flat world.’
‘That does not surprise me. Humans have been the only race to entertain the primitive idea of a flat world,’ said Marco, running the film back to the starscapes. ‘If you don’t believe me, look it up. Kung always thought they lived on the inside of a sphere, and shandi always had big Twin hanging up there to teach them a basic lesson in cosmology.’
Kin grunted. Later on she found time to check it in the ship’s library. It was true, but what did it prove? That men were slightly stupid and very egocentric? Aliens already knew that.
‘We shall be able to ascertain the precise nature of the flat world’, said Marco, ‘when we arrive.’
‘Hold it,’ said Kin. ‘Stop right there. What do you mean, when we arrive?’
The kung gave her a withering look. ‘I have already set up the program. That whine you hear is the matrix battery charging up.’
‘Where are we now?’
‘Half a million kilometres from Kung.’
‘Then you can land and let me off. I ain’t coming!’
‘What plans had you, then?’
Kin hesitated. ‘Oh, we could take Jalo to a resurrection clinic,’ she said at last. ‘We could wait around and, uh, we, uh …’
She stopped. It sounded pretty feeble, even to her.
‘We have the course, the ship and the time,’ said Marco. ‘The man will come to no harm in the sargo. If we hesitate we will have to explain, and probably the Company will want to know why you weren’t frank with it in the first place.’
Kin looked at Silver for support, but the shand just nodded heavily. ‘I would not like to lose this opportunity,’ she said.
‘Look,’ said Kin. ‘Taking this trip with Jalo seemed a good idea, right? But now we don’t know the half of what we’re embarking on. I’m just using a bit of intelligent caution, is all.’
‘So much for the vaunted monkey curiosity,’ said Marco to Silver. ‘So much for the dynamic manifest destiny we hear so much—’
‘You’re mad – the pair of you!’
Marco shrugged, a particularly effective gesture with two sets of shoulders, and unfolded his bony frame from the pilot chair. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘You fly us back.’
Kin flumped into the seat and pulled the wraparound screen down to her level. She looked at the three-quarter consol. There were several dials that looked vaguely familiar. That black panel might control air and temperature; the rest was gibberish. Kin was used to ships with big brains.
‘I can’t fly this!’ she said. ‘And you know it!’
‘Glad to have you with us, then,’ said Marco, looking at his watch. ‘Why don’t you two get some sleep?’
Kin lay in her bunk, thinking. She thought of how attitudes to aliens got stereotyped. Kung were paranoid, blood-thirsty and superstitious. Shandi were calm, bloody-thirsty and sometimes ate people. Shandi and kung thought humans were blood-thirsty, foolhardy and
There was a seascape, and unless there was something very wrong with the size of the waves, the snake-headed beast looping through them was fully a kilometre long.
There were distant views of what might have been cities. There were several sunsets, at least one taken from the air, and a number of night shots of starscapes.
‘Go back to the aerial sunset,’ said Kin. ‘Now what’s wrong?’
‘Horizon’s odd,’ said Marco.
It was. The curve was oddly flattened. There was something else wrong too, something Kin couldn’t immediately spot.
‘Apart from that, it could be any human world,’ observed Silver.
‘Funny,’ said Kin. ‘Jalo talked about a flat Earth, not just a flat world.’
‘That does not surprise me. Humans have been the only race to entertain the primitive idea of a flat world,’ said Marco, running the film back to the starscapes. ‘If you don’t believe me, look it up. Kung always thought they lived on the inside of a sphere, and shandi always had big Twin hanging up there to teach them a basic lesson in cosmology.’
Kin grunted. Later on she found time to check it in the ship’s library. It was true, but what did it prove? That men were slightly stupid and very egocentric? Aliens already knew that.
‘We shall be able to ascertain the precise nature of the flat world’, said Marco, ‘when we arrive.’
‘Hold it,’ said Kin. ‘Stop right there. What do you mean, when we arrive?’
The kung gave her a withering look. ‘I have already set up the program. That whine you hear is the matrix battery charging up.’
‘Where are we now?’
‘Half a million kilometres from Kung.’
‘Then you can land and let me off. I ain’t coming!’
‘What plans had you, then?’
Kin hesitated. ‘Oh, we could take Jalo to a resurrection clinic,’ she said at last. ‘We could wait around and, uh, we, uh …’
She stopped. It sounded pretty feeble, even to her.
‘We have the course, the ship and the time,’ said Marco. ‘The man will come to no harm in the sargo. If we hesitate we will have to explain, and probably the Company will want to know why you weren’t frank with it in the first place.’
Kin looked at Silver for support, but the shand just nodded heavily. ‘I would not like to lose this opportunity,’ she said.
‘Look,’ said Kin. ‘Taking this trip with Jalo seemed a good idea, right? But now we don’t know the half of what we’re embarking on. I’m just using a bit of intelligent caution, is all.’
‘So much for the vaunted monkey curiosity,’ said Marco to Silver. ‘So much for the dynamic manifest destiny we hear so much—’
‘You’re mad – the pair of you!’
Marco shrugged, a particularly effective gesture with two sets of shoulders, and unfolded his bony frame from the pilot chair. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘You fly us back.’
Kin flumped into the seat and pulled the wraparound screen down to her level. She looked at the three-quarter consol. There were several dials that looked vaguely familiar. That black panel might control air and temperature; the rest was gibberish. Kin was used to ships with big brains.
‘I can’t fly this!’ she said. ‘And you know it!’
‘Glad to have you with us, then,’ said Marco, looking at his watch. ‘Why don’t you two get some sleep?’
Kin lay in her bunk, thinking. She thought of how attitudes to aliens got stereotyped. Kung were paranoid, blood-thirsty and superstitious. Shandi were calm, bloody-thirsty and sometimes ate people. Shandi and kung thought humans were blood-thirsty, foolhardy and
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