Examinations
© 2019 by Walter Reimer


Thumbnail art by  steamfox


“I’m getting some very nasty looks,” Dara subvocalized as he and the villagers headed back to the beach. “Makes me wonder.”

“I still have an extraction team on standby,” came the voice of his friend Kal, aboard the CDT ship in synchronous orbit. Cybernetic implants didn’t require padds or unnecessary speech. “What do you think?”

“No, not yet,” the otter said as the group crested the dune line. “Any fish about?”

“The ones you caught a while ago have headed off north, but there’s another shoal moving close by.” Kal added, “What are you wondering?”

“The way the femme referred to ‘fell machines.’ Almost a religious thing, but everything we know says that they wouldn’t have developed anything like that. Not in only eighty-seven years.” The otter stopped, wavelets lapping at his ankles, and he turned to look at the villagers. “I want to show you what I’m doing to catch fish,” he said. “I’ll need my padd.”

His bag hit the sand, tossed toward him by one of the matriarch’s guards.

The otter quirked an eyebrow at the canine. “Thanks.” Dara walked over to the bag and took out the device. He unfolded it to its full half-meter-square size and touched the edge, causing the padd to become a rigid plane. “Kal?” he said aloud. “Visual, please.”

The gray surface facing him was replaced by a smiling ferret with the bridge of the ship in the background. “Say hi to everyone,” and he turned the now-rigid padd around to face the villagers.

More than a few stepped back. One or two turned and ran off as the ferret waved. “Hello! My name’s Kal.”

There was total silence from the villagers, until one little pup pulled away from her mother and took a step toward the image on the padd. “My name’s Je,” she said.

Kal beamed. “I’m pleased to meet you, Je. Dara, why don’t you set your padd down somewhere? The shoal of fish is getting closer to your position.”

Dara kicked at the sand, creating a slope that he propped the device against. “How’s that?”

“Great. They’re ten meters south and four meters offshore. Better get out there.” The ferret’s face receded to the upper left quarter of the padd, the rest taken up by a sensor display showing the approaching school of fish.

A mixture of wonder and fear on their faces, some of the natives sat to watch the image, while others watched the otter as he splashed out into the water. Two of the mels watched the display, then ran to fetch their own nets.

When he was up to his knees, Dara turned and called out, “If we get these fish, may we talk about this ‘fell machine’ thing of yours?”

The canine headwoman thought for a moment before nodding.


***


Matvei knew that the idea of his head falling off his neck was silly, but the way he kept swiveling it around to look, he was no longer quite so sure.

But there was just so much to see, and he didn’t want to miss a thing.

Everyone was wearing the same dark blue one-piece suits he was, and what a mix of species! He was seeing furs that he’d only seen in pictures – kangaroos, ferrets, even a zebra . . . “Oof!” He was knocked a step backward by the collision, and he said, “Oh! I’m terribly sorry . . . “

His voice trailed off at the sight of the doe standing in front of him. He hadn’t knocked her off her hooves, thank the suns.

She was a red deer, like him. She was wearing a standard jumpsuit, but had a white jacket over it. She carried a padd and looked a bit flustered, her short sandy blonde headfur only slightly disarrayed. “Are you all right?” she asked.

“Ah, er, I-I should be asking you, Ma’am,” he stammered as he found his voice. Nearby, Tsien and Akiko paused in talking with another white-coated crewmember and smiled at him. “A-are you all right?” he asked.

The doe smiled. “I’m fine, thank you, sir. Jaxon-jih?” she asked Akiko.

The husky nodded. “Yes, he’s from the planet. Matvei, this is Dr. Xiu Makavoi. She’ll be examining you.”

Matvei blinked as his brain froze up momentarily. He started to fiddle with the zipper on his jumpsuit.

“Not here in the corridor,” Dr. Makavoi said, her muzzle twisting as she suppressed a laugh. “Please step into this room. Jaxon-jih, will you show the other gentlefur into the other room? Dr. Lamm will be in shortly.” The husky nodded and ushered the feline into the adjoining room, and the doe glanced back at Matvei. “In here, please.”

“Hm? Oh!” He followed her inside, and after the door closed she gestured to him. He got the hint and shed the borrowed jumpsuit, folding and laying it aside almost reverently. He turned back to her and she was looking at him. He glanced down and put his paws over himself. “Oh! I’m very sorry about that.”

“It’s no problem. Your people go about naked normally, yes?”

He nodded. “Except on important occasions.”

“And what do mels normally do if they have that reaction to a femme?”

“Apologize,” he replied.

The doe smiled. “And you’ve apologized, so there’s no issue here. Please take a seat,” and she indicated a padded chair. After he sat down she drew a small cylindrical object from her coat and pointed it at him. “My first name’s Xiu, by the way. What’s yours?”

“Matvei.” She had very nice blue eyes.

“Those blue stripes on your arm – do they have some ritual significance?”

“These? No. They’re my rank. I’m the Sergeant-at-Arms to the Committee. Our government.”

“Ah, I see.” She turned to a nearby counter, where her padd rested, and the fingers of her free paw danced over the surface. “How old are you?”

“Twenty.”

“Very young, for such an important position.” She smiled. “Now, I’m going to lean the chair back, so don’t panic.” The chair pivoted back slowly and leg rests came up as the chair became a horizontal platform, and the buck found himself staring up at a small hemisphere on the ceiling. “Just lie still. This scanner will be looking deeper, and will tell us about your bones and internal organs.”

Trying to hold himself still he murmured, “My grandfather and a few of the elders would tell us about these things.”

“But actually seeing them is something else, eh?” she asked.

“Uh-huh.” After a few seconds, the platform became a chair again, and she held up her padd. “Suns . . . “ he breathed at the image of his skeleton and organs. “That’s amazing, Xiu.”

“It is, isn’t it?” She gave a soft chuckle. “I’m afraid that I need to do just one more thing before we’re done.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. I need a sample of your blood.”


***


“All I wanted – “

“All you wanted was to remove me from the Committee under the guise of ‘reforming the curriculum,” Calibanescu said sharply. The other four Committee members (Fisheries was going to get censured, at the very least, for absenting himself; Astronomy and Technology faced reprimands) sat and watched the exchange, awaiting their chance to speak. “Nevertheless, the Chair would be negligent in its duties if it did not allow a fair hearing.” The old buck glared at the gorilla. “The Member for Education is invited to speak.”

Chiuri seemed to sag a bit as she considered what to say before straightening up in her seat. “I admit it; I tried to replace you, Ion.” The buck’s ears swiveled at the use of his given name, but remained silent as she added, “You and I were both very young when we made planetfall – me younger than you, you’ll concede – so we’ve been here throughout the entire history of our world.

“But that’s where the similarity ends.” She paused and Welfare reached forward to pat her on the shoulder. She looked back at the beagle and smiled before resuming.

“You’ve been attached to this place, this ship, ever since we crashed, and you’ve clung to the Standing Orders as if they were carved in stone. As a result, you were fixed in the past; you weren’t looking forward. My reform of the curriculum would have reoriented us away from saying ‘Next year, we’ll be rescued’ to ‘We’re here; let’s go forward and make this our world.’ We have young furs that are eager, Ion, eager to build boats and explore this world. We had no idea if these islands were the only land on Tempest.” She took a breath. “Which leads me to the outworlders.”

Calibanescu raised a finger. “They forced you to reconsider?”

The gorilla femme snorted. “Wrecked my plans entirely. The solar flares dying down couldn’t have come at a worse time. Curriculum reform will have to wait; because obviously you were right, as were all the other elders. Rescue has come.” Her shoulders slumped. “That’s all I have to say, but if the Committee votes against me, I’ll resign without a fight.”

The buck sighed. “Thank you, Latifa, for being honest with us.” He leaned forward and smiled. “I’ll bet you hated them for showing up, didn’t you?”

She glowered at him before lowering her gaze to the table and nodding. “I also admit that the picture they draw of the conditions Outside are frightening.” Several of the other Committee members nodded in agreement.

Calibanescu nodded and gave a small start as the door to the Tau Beta’s conference room opened. “Yes, who i – you! Where have you been?” he snapped as the Member for Astronomy came in.

The wolfhound gave him a cheerful smile as he sat down at his place. “Been talking with their planetologist, Conducator. Wonderful things, their padds, you know; he’s taken me on a tour of the neighborhood around our suns. Terribly complicated, but then a runner caught up with us and told me there was a meeting.” He looked at everyone and his smile faltered. “I’m not in trouble, am I?”

“Better late than never,” Security murmured sotto voce.

The Conducator summarized the meeting so far for his benefit before saying, “Since we now have enough Members for a vote, the Chair puts the question: Whether this Committee retains confidence in the Member for Education.”


***


Dara pulled a bit more meat off the silverback’s spine, popped the morsel in his mouth, and chewed. With the help of a few villagers, he’d caught quite a bit of the mackerel-like fish, and now he was back at the village enjoying a well-earned dinner. Kal had spent the time talking to the children and some of the adults; the ferret had even displayed a few children’s educational videos.

The fish was tasty, and so was the beer. The few femmes, canines all, which were giving him the eye, looked rather tasty as well.

But, business first.

He wiped his paws off on his furry thighs and turned to the village matriarch. “Thank you for allowing me to fish,” he said, recalling his earlier conversation with her, “but I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

The older canine smiled. “I imagine you would.” She turned to a younger femme, obviously a daughter. “Bring it.” As she obeyed, the matriarch said, “One of the first furs on this world was a prophet, and he brought some wise words with him.”

The otter kept his expression neutral and interested. “And he wrote these words down?”

“It’s said that he printed them out, under the Captain’s nose, before the ship’s power failed,” the woman replied as her daughter approached with a small, distressed-looking box that had clearly been part of some passenger’s luggage nearly nine decades earlier. “Come,” she said. “Sit by me; the paper’s a bit frail after so many years.”

Dara stood, dusted off the sand on his rear and tail, and moved to sit beside her as the villagers watched. Kal’s image on his padd was watching as well while the otter sat down and the matriarch opened the case.

The paper was quite yellow with age, but the title was clearly legible: Too Much Technology? An Anarcho-Primitivist Perspective. The author’s name was Dzhan Krazny.

“Are you getting this?” Dara asked Kal over his cybernetic implant.

“Yeah,” came the reply. “I’ve already queried the computer.”

“I almost hate to touch it,” he said. “What did he teach?”

“That, by landing here, we were given the opportunity to return to a simpler time, without machines that actually enslave our minds under the guise of being helpful tools,” the matriarch replied. She put a paw to her chin. “Although, from your catch today, I cannot deny that there are some tools that can be very useful.”

“Can I speak with this prophet?”

She shook her head. “He died . . . about thirty years ago, I think. He was very lonely.”

“Why?”

“Because he was only one of his kind on Tempest,” she said.


***


"What were the results of the medical exam?" Akiko asked Dr. Makavoi a short time later. Tsien and Matvei were in the hangar, watching as the fusion generators were being loaded on the lander. Matvei was wearing his loincloth again, the plant-based cloth thoroughly cleaned. The husky and the red deer hind were standing a short distance away.

Xiu smiled. “Calibanescu-jih passed out during the blood draw, but he was only unconscious a few minutes. Dr. Lamm’s data on Tsien-jih was uploaded first; he’s had a number of broken bones in his youth, fairly well-set; intestinal flora’s normal, and some arteriosclerosis. Matvei – er, Calibanescu-jih – well, in terms of his overall physical condition, he’s in very good shape. Analysis of his excreta shows a good diet and standard flora for a herbivore. Muscle tone’s very good."

A male member of the medical staff, a lion, couldn't resist the obvious, and winked at Xiu. “That the only thing you checked out?"

The doe slowly grinned. “I admit I did examine his genitals. Quite up to standard, and I can’t really fault him for having that reaction; I’m probably the first outworld cervine he’s ever seen. But,” and her grin turned nasty, “I think he’s got you beat in that area, and beats you by an easy margin in terms of politeness, charm and tact.” She held up the little finger of her right paw and pointed at the first knuckle with her left index finger.

All the while giving the lion a very significant look.

The feline found something else to do, and after a short pause Akiko leaned in close to Xiu. “You’ll be lucky if you don't get called into Mari’s office for that bit of banter, back there."

Xiu sniffed. "If there's any fur that should end up there, it's him. I know my job."

"Well, no argument there. He did ask for it. And got it.” They watched the loading for a few more moments, one of the cargo handlers demonstrating his power loader to a rapt audience of two. “Seriously, though,” the husky said, adding hastily, “and you don't have to answer . . . "

"No, it’s all right. He was cute. And sort of sweet." There was another, slightly longer pause. "You know, if he's anything like the average hart on this planet . . . I would be tempted to put in transfer papers." The two femmes grinned at each other, and Xiu added, “There might be a need for doctors, sooner than they think.”

“Inbreeding?”

The doe nodded. “Definite signs in the genome, both of them, but more marked in Calibanescu. Probably a smaller population.”

“Tsien-jih told me that their Welfare Minister keeps birth records to prevent that.”

“And he’s done a fair job of it. But with a population of less than ten thousand, well, it just puts the reckoning off, doesn’t it?”


***


By rule, the Conducator was allowed a vote, but as the injured party he had to keep silent; the Member for Education was also not allowed to vote on a confidence motion directed against her. That left Agriculture, Astronomy, Economics, Security and Welfare eligible to vote.

Each gave their vote in a solemn voice.

Calibanescu tapped his knuckles on the table for order. “The results of the voting are as follows; four of those eligible have voted to maintain confidence in the Member for Education, to one voting that they do not. Chiuri-san?”

The gorilla glanced up at him. “Conducator?”

“It seems that the majority feel that your more forward-thinking outlook is what is needed, now that the CDT are here.” He paused, clearly not wanting to say what he felt he needed to say.

Chiuri spared him that. “I think I speak for the Committee,” she said carefully, “that until we have further meetings with the outworlders, we should not disturb the Committee with a change in leadership. You, Conducator, are a living link to what things were like before planetfall,” she said, and several of the other Members nodded. “Afterward, we can discuss this issue further, and then vote on whether a change is needed.”

“Thank you, Chiuri-san.”