Star Trek(69)
Eventually they reached a massive earthwork deep in the forest, made of a dark, tightly packed soil like the kind the Hainalian villages were built upon. “Terra preta,” Sangupta said. “Incredibly rich soil, mixed with charcoal, pottery shards, food waste, and, um, organic residue from the villages. It’s the secret to sustainable rainforest agriculture, fertile as hell and resistant to nutrient leaching. Slash-and-burn agriculture almost destroyed the Amazon rainforest until twenty-first-century humans relearned how the native Amazonians used to make the stuff.”
This earthwork was agricultural, topped by a dense grove of plants with bulbous, pear-shaped trunks and wide canopies of fern-like leaves spread out in an umbrella formation that Mayweather realized would make good camouflage from overhead.
Soon they reached a region where the trees were spaced marginally wider and had narrower trunks, leaving room for a number of large huts, more than one of which had antenna arrays on their roofs. One of their captors called out, and moments later the largest hut’s door was pushed aside from within. There emerged a wide-bodied Chelon in an ornate toque worn over a loose, colorful keffiyeh, with similarly bright fabric draped around the body. This Chelon was somewhat shorter than the rest, though significantly taller than Mayweather. He, or she, was accompanied by a pair of attendants who stayed two paces behind at all times.
“Ganaiar,” exclaimed Sajithen. “Why do you breach the etiquette of parley by taking us captive? I came to you in good faith!”
“So you claim,” the rebel chieftain intoned. “As you have claimed to aid us in the past, while holding us back from pursuing our real goals. But we have new allies now, and they have warned us about these new outsiders your great Trade Commission has sold out to.”
“What allies? The First Families?” A scornful rattle emerged from her beak. “They have sought to exploit our homeland as much as any others, or even more. And they stand outside the Commission, refusing any checks on their exploitation.”
“Not that the Commission imposes many such checks of its own.”
“We maintain the balance with a subtle hand. You know how the game is played.”
“Yes,” Ganaiar grated. “You give us license, and give the same license to those who would harm us—acting only to ensure neither goes far enough for any real change to occur. Or so it was. Now you let this Federation come in to subjugate us all.”
“Excuse me.” Mayweather thought it was about time he got in on the conversation. “Hi. I’m Commander Travis Mayweather of the Federation vessel Pioneer. This is my science officer, Lieutenant Sangupta.”
“We know who you are.”
“With all due respect, sir, it doesn’t sound like you do.” The “sir” was pure guesswork.
The chieftain growled. Sajithen turned to Mayweather. “Many Hainalian traditionalists do not adopt a permanent gender role. Call Ganaiar by the title Velom.”
“Of course, my apologies,” Mayweather said to the chieftain. “Velom Ganaiar, whatever the First Families have told you about the Federation, it’s not true. We’re not here to subjugate anyone. We want the Rigel worlds to join us as partners.”
“You know how the Families lie, Ganaiar,” Sajithen added. “Why would you follow them now?”
“We do not,” the chieftain growled back. “Our cause aligns with their goals at the moment, that is all. Like them, we have no wish to be ground under by the Federation or any others. Now that your Commission has sold out, we will no longer wait for your peaceful methods to work. It is time that we rise up openly and free ourselves from your control.”
“This is madness, Ganaiar. The Families have used your hypnoids to steal our most sensitive secrets. We believe they will use them to attempt a seizure of Rigel II. Do you really believe they will grant this world its liberty?”
“Their agendas are their own. As are ours. Once we take control of our world, once we capture and nationalize the offworld ships on and around it, we can defend it ourselves.”
“Oh, no,” Mayweather moaned. “Don’t you see? You’re playing right into their hands. They’re using you to get the Commission fighting on two fronts so they won’t have enough strength to hold Rigel II. And that’ll just make the Families stronger and you weaker. Velom, there’s nothing to gain by this.
“But there’s a better way. If Rigel joins the Federation, you’ll all be protected by our laws. The exploitation will have to stop, and your right to live the way you want and control your own lands will be guaranteed.”