Read Online Ancestor's World by A. C. Crispin, T. Jackson King - Free Book Online
Authors: A. C. Crispin, T. Jackson King
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viewport in the Stellar Velocity vessel Emerald Scales, watching Ancestor's World revolve beneath her. They would be landing soon, but before she strapped in she wanted to see the planet from orbit.
Ancestor's World was a brown ball covered in reddish- brown traceries that resembled waterless riverbeds. The silvery sparkle of dry saline lakebeds spotted the planet. So where's the water? she wondered, and even as she thought it, they rounded the north pole and overflew the shallow Northern Sea. Instead of an icecap, Ancestor's World had a large sea filling its far north, one about the size of the Indian Ocean. The sea was fed by the muddy-brown waterway called the River of Life, which flowed northward in serpentine curves from the equatorial Mountains of Faith.
Etsane counted off the primary geographical features of the Na-Dina homeworld--one sea-ocean, one giant mountain range-at the equator, and a dead seabed at the south pole. Then she spotted the angry blue-black of continent- wide storms, thunderstorms that flashed with yellow lightning, and recalled the turbulent weather Dr. Mitchell had mentioned. Monster storms, earthquakes, and volcanoes,
45
she thought. Nice place to visit, but do I really want to live here for a year or so?
"Etsane, you're the luckiest of us all, I think," called Professor Greyshine. He and his mate, Doctor Strongheart, were curled nearby on Heeyoon cushioned benches.
"Oh? Why's that?" She touched on her voder earcuff, an automatic habit whenever she encountered aliens, even though she read and spoke Heeyoon fairly fluently. A month's practice conversing with Greyshine and Strongheart on the way here had certainly helped. Etsane smiled as she remembered one particular conversation. The elderly couple loved romantic poetry and had begged her to repeat the apocryphal story of how Solomon and Sheba had made love and founded the Royal House of Ethiopia.
"Professor, this is another piece in the puzzle of the Mizari Lost Colony," she pointed out. "Surely you are the most fortunate of us all?"
Etsane waved a hand, indicating the other members of the team who were also in the lounge. There was the slothlike Shadgui Lithics Analyst, two humanoid Drnians, the Mizari Ceramicist, the Chhhh-kk-tu
Paleoenvironmental specialist, and the Vardi Chronologist.
"He is fortunate," Strongheart agreed, nuzzling her mate fondly. "But, Etsane, he is talking about the painted pictures and bas-relief carvings that cover the walls of all the Na-Dina ruins. Even more than Kal-Syr, this must be a dream world for an Iconographer!"
"Oh, it is! It will be!" Etsane agreed excitedly.
The ever-changing view caught her attention, and she discovered that Emerald Scales had now entered the atmosphere and was descending to land. Below them, she could see the broad delta lands that lay at the mouth of the River of Life. So much like the Nile ...
"Doctor Mitchell's preliminary report reminded me so much of ancient Egypt,"
she said, picking up the conversation where she'd left off. "I'll have to be careful not to let my own heritage influence me as I begin trying to decipher the ideoglyphs in the Royal Tomb of A-Um Rakt. Doctor Mitchell says he hasn't made any headway with
46
them at all--they're very different from the hieroglyphs of Classical High Na-Dina."
At that moment the soft "prepare for landing" chime sounded, and all of the passengers quickly strapped themselves into their seats. Etsane watched the freighter's flight upriver, eager to see the great city of Spirit and its new, makeshift spaceport. The capital of the Na-Dina lay a hundred kilometers above the densely populated delta farmlands, and its towering stone buildings soon caught her attention.
Etsane eyed the buildings, wondering if she could pick out different dynastic styles from this far away. Imagine flying like a bird over a city already ancient before Rome was founded!
Father, I wish you could see this, she thought wistfully. You would have loved
Ancestor's World was a brown ball covered in reddish- brown traceries that resembled waterless riverbeds. The silvery sparkle of dry saline lakebeds spotted the planet. So where's the water? she wondered, and even as she thought it, they rounded the north pole and overflew the shallow Northern Sea. Instead of an icecap, Ancestor's World had a large sea filling its far north, one about the size of the Indian Ocean. The sea was fed by the muddy-brown waterway called the River of Life, which flowed northward in serpentine curves from the equatorial Mountains of Faith.
Etsane counted off the primary geographical features of the Na-Dina homeworld--one sea-ocean, one giant mountain range-at the equator, and a dead seabed at the south pole. Then she spotted the angry blue-black of continent- wide storms, thunderstorms that flashed with yellow lightning, and recalled the turbulent weather Dr. Mitchell had mentioned. Monster storms, earthquakes, and volcanoes,
45
she thought. Nice place to visit, but do I really want to live here for a year or so?
"Etsane, you're the luckiest of us all, I think," called Professor Greyshine. He and his mate, Doctor Strongheart, were curled nearby on Heeyoon cushioned benches.
"Oh? Why's that?" She touched on her voder earcuff, an automatic habit whenever she encountered aliens, even though she read and spoke Heeyoon fairly fluently. A month's practice conversing with Greyshine and Strongheart on the way here had certainly helped. Etsane smiled as she remembered one particular conversation. The elderly couple loved romantic poetry and had begged her to repeat the apocryphal story of how Solomon and Sheba had made love and founded the Royal House of Ethiopia.
"Professor, this is another piece in the puzzle of the Mizari Lost Colony," she pointed out. "Surely you are the most fortunate of us all?"
Etsane waved a hand, indicating the other members of the team who were also in the lounge. There was the slothlike Shadgui Lithics Analyst, two humanoid Drnians, the Mizari Ceramicist, the Chhhh-kk-tu
Paleoenvironmental specialist, and the Vardi Chronologist.
"He is fortunate," Strongheart agreed, nuzzling her mate fondly. "But, Etsane, he is talking about the painted pictures and bas-relief carvings that cover the walls of all the Na-Dina ruins. Even more than Kal-Syr, this must be a dream world for an Iconographer!"
"Oh, it is! It will be!" Etsane agreed excitedly.
The ever-changing view caught her attention, and she discovered that Emerald Scales had now entered the atmosphere and was descending to land. Below them, she could see the broad delta lands that lay at the mouth of the River of Life. So much like the Nile ...
"Doctor Mitchell's preliminary report reminded me so much of ancient Egypt,"
she said, picking up the conversation where she'd left off. "I'll have to be careful not to let my own heritage influence me as I begin trying to decipher the ideoglyphs in the Royal Tomb of A-Um Rakt. Doctor Mitchell says he hasn't made any headway with
46
them at all--they're very different from the hieroglyphs of Classical High Na-Dina."
At that moment the soft "prepare for landing" chime sounded, and all of the passengers quickly strapped themselves into their seats. Etsane watched the freighter's flight upriver, eager to see the great city of Spirit and its new, makeshift spaceport. The capital of the Na-Dina lay a hundred kilometers above the densely populated delta farmlands, and its towering stone buildings soon caught her attention.
Etsane eyed the buildings, wondering if she could pick out different dynastic styles from this far away. Imagine flying like a bird over a city already ancient before Rome was founded!
Father, I wish you could see this, she thought wistfully. You would have loved
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