“The ships were necessarily brought along during the evacuation. We used everything flyable in our haste to leave our old home before the Khieevi came. The flitters were expendable, though, as were many of the technological devices we’d commonly used back on the old planet. We concentrated on saving the biological wealth of the home world. As is always the case in any forced migration, there were things we lost along the way,” Neeva said.
“We have all we need to sustain us,” the attendant replied, overhearing the quiet conversation. “The Ancestors in their wisdom indicate the path of truth, as usual. By their example, they show us how to use what is important to substitute for that which is less so.”
“It takes time and credits to resupply a transplanted world,” Melireenya said, as, after a deep bow to the unicorn blanketed in blue, she was helped by the creature’s attendant to mount. “Fortunately, our space fleet was equal to the demands that we made of it, both during the evacuation and now. Good engineering and buying quality paid off when -we -were in dire circumstances.”
“The ships weren’t manufactured on your old home world?” Acorna asked, surprised.
“Only partially. They were assembled offplanet by manufacturers who cater to our trade and then brought to us to be customized to our specific needs and tastes by Linyaari technoartisans.”
“I see. But why offplanet? I thought, with the LAANYE and the other devices I’ve seen, that you-we-were a highly advanced technological society with the infrastructure to support a great deal of industry.”
“Having the capability isn’t the point, child,” said another of the Linyaari greeting committee.
The attendant of Acorna s Ancestor cleared his throat and said, “The Grandmother says that in the day of her own grandmother, the Ancestral Hosts did a great deal of manufacturing. It was very messy. It took up valuable grazing area and required either living workers who would much rather be elsewhere or else mechanical workers who themselves had to be manufactured.”
Another attendant chimed in, as if reciting a litany. “It was a pernicious system, which devoured increasingly more grazing area as time passed. Fortunately, the Ancestral Hosts took advantage of space travel and relocated much of our manufacturing to other worlds where the beings didn’t mind living without adequate grazing area. These days, even though we have a large community of technoartisans who are superb designers and engineers, the vast majority of our manufacturing is done under Linyaari supervision on other worlds.”
“Which is a very good thing,” Melireenya said, “because we’re always in need of grazing land.”
A Linyaari woman wearing a long multicolored robe said, “The example of the Ancestral Hosts has served us throughout our history. Most of our people feel that living a life centered in plants and creatures is much more Linyaari than dealing with metals and tools.”
“But our people don’t mind if others spend their lives working with metals and tools,” Neeva said wryly. “And some of the Linyaari find their calling in doing just that. Just as some of us live our lives in space or on other planets. Our people trade with other worlds for the items, materials, parts, or processes we need to have manufactured.”
“What do we trade if we manufacture nothing ourselves?” Acorna wanted to know.
“Think about it, Khornya,” Thariinye said. “What problems do industrial societies have that we can cure?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “Pollution, of course! Their manufacturing processes create toxins we can neutralize.”
“But mindful of the example of the Ancestors,” the attendant intoned, “our envoys, emissaries, and tradesmen do not disclose the true source of our power.”
“Of course not,” said another of the white-skinned Linyaari greeting committee. “Our trading partners do not realize the purification power lies in our horns. They think it is a mechanical process-centered in these little devices we take with us which they believe effectively dispel pollution and contamination on their worlds. Though they’ve also figured out the devices only work in the hands of Linyaari technicians.”
“Thus, profiting from the examples of the Ancestors and the Ancestral Hosts, the vast majority of our people can live a pastoral lifestyle uncontaminated by the processes which would compromise those things we value,” a golden-colored Linyaari concluded.