He began to walk away, and then turned back.
“I was too young when my father died to remember him. I know only that he tried to do the impossible—he tried to land a spaceship that was never designed for planetfall. He failed, but at least he tried.”
* * *
For months after that episode, Indira was plunged into a deep depression. She dealt with it by monomaniacally immersing herself in the language and culture of the gukuy pilgrims.
During that period, she learned much of their language and culture. Enough to develop a profound admiration for the gukuy of the big valley—coupled with an equally profound fear.
For Indira also, it was one thing to know a truth in the abstract. Another to grasp it in all its concrete permutations.
It was, indeed, a Time of Troubles.
She had intended, as her first act, to convene a meeting of the council, where she would explain the truth to the leaders of the human colony. But when Adrian Harabi approached her, and hesitantly asked for advice concerning the fortified wall she was building, Indira changed her plans.
First things first. She was ruefully amused to see how easily even she could make that decision. It was indeed true, as Samuel Johnson had once said, that the prospect of being hanged concentrates the mind wonderfully.
So she accompanied Adrian to the proposed site of the wall. Soon they were joined by Joseph and his lieutenants.
Joseph was stiff and distant, at first. But as Indira began explaining the historical experience of the human race—the hard-learned techniques of fortifications and siege tactics—she could see the old warmth returning to his face.
She was both happy and sad to see it. Happy, for she loved the boy, and was gladdened to see his love for her returning. And sad, for the means of its return was his eager apprenticeship in the science of slaughter.
When the meeting convened the next day, Indira began by saying that the language of the pilgrims should no longer be referred to as “gukuy.” It would be like calling the languages of Earth “human.” There were five languages represented among the gukuy on the mountain, she explained to the council.
“The main language is Anshaku. That’s the dominant language of the Ansha Prevalate, the great empire to the south.”
“How far south?” demanded Joseph immediately.
Indira understood his concern.
“I don’t think we need to worry about the Anshac, Joseph. At least, not in the immediate future. Most of the gukuy in the big valley—there are about sixty of them, by the way, and they call themselves the Pilgrims of the Way—are from Ansha. From the helot class, mostly, although there are several former members of the lesser warrior clans—”
She paused, observing their confusion.
“Perhaps I’d better fill you in on the general picture.”
A sharp look at Julius.
“If the crotchety member of the council will refrain from sarcastic remarks on the subject of professorialism.”
“We are all ears, Indira,” responded Anna Cheng immediately.
“I will silence the old crank, if necessary,” added Ludmilla.
Indira repressed a smile, seeing the look of outrage on Julius’ face.
“The social structure of the gukuy empires—let’s call them that, for the moment—has basic parallels to the civilized societies of Earth’s Bronze Age. Unstable empires. Independent principalities and city-states. Constant warfare and conquest. Dynastic revolts—except that the gukuy don’t really have dynasties.
“That’s the biggest difference between the gukuy empires and any human parallel. The reproductive methods of the gukuy don’t allow for the development of dynasties—at least, not in the sense that humans use the term. The King begat a King, who begat a King, and so forth.”
“They’d be queens,” interjected Anna.
Indira shook her head. “No, not even that. I made the same mistake, at first. I assumed that gukuy society would be matriarchal, in the sense that human societies became patriarchal after the Neolothic revolution. But the differences between gukuy and humans run deeper than that. True, the females are dominant. In that sense, you could describe gukuy society as `matriarchal.’ But the gukuy females are not mothers. The gukuy don’t have a simple two-sex system. Each sex is further divided. The big majority of gukuy are sterile females. They do most of the work, and the fighting. And they dominate gukuy society on every level.