All That Glitters Ch. 58

"I hope that has been useful to you, Caye?" Mind asked.

"Yes, Gurn Mind, it has. I thank you for participating today," Caye replied, getting a nod from Mind-Ur who waved to the watchers and closed the link.

"We are currently installing server nodes around AsocAR and several comms satellites that will provide global coverage for these devices. Within a few days, the comms net will serve all of AsocAR. We will eventually repeat this process with all of the planets in the Asocan Realm meaning that you will have access to any one on any planet anywhere in the Greater Community, provided you have their contact information.

"My staff are in the atrium of this building with plenty of supplies of comps. We have also rented several rooms as classrooms to show you how best to make use of your new device. This afternoon, we shall open this hall to the public. As simple to use and effective as a comp is, it will become a very popular item.

"I hope that my brief explanation was of use to you this morning. Thank you for your time." Caye-Ur bowed to those in the room, bowed to the Asoc, and simply walked out into the atrium the doors closing behind her.

"As Gurn, the price of the wrist comps and their use will be augmented in your taxes, they are a business expense", the Asoc explained. "There will be no excuse for not having one other than personal preference. However, you will find these tools indispensable, simpler to use than our tablets, and far more capable as well.

"Our time at breakfast is complete. I thank all of the new Gurn for participating in this morning's Breakfast with the Asoc. This breakfast is repeated every other month so that I can interact directly with my Gurn on AsocAR. You can participate in this breakfast simply by requesting a place. Any points brought up during these Breakfasts will be provided to all the Gurn once it is compiled.

"Every fourth Breakfast I reserve for the Planetary Associations of Gurn Leaders. The points brought up at that Breakfast will be distributed by your respective planetary association leaders.

"I hope that you have a better understanding of what will be happening, especially over the next few years as we include the new protocols for Gurn.

"Your Association Leaders are required to keep you informed of all new developments. Reach out to them as required.

"Ministers and your aides, we will move to the next room over, Kumaraie, Palda Prakeshya, Palda Junelliya, High Gurn Korld, and Gurn Piscium, I ask you to attend us in the next room." The Asoc rose and all rose to bow to her as she left the room followed by those she requested. As soon as they could, the Gurn all rushed out to the atrium, intrigued by the new comps.

************

The Asoc addressed the assembled Ministers in the next room. "As the celebrations of the defeat of Belgedra are still continuing, things will not return to their normal routine for a few more days. Once that occurs, your normal ministerial presentation times will be invoked.

"High Gurn Praatra, as Leader of the Gurn Association of AsocAR, your comp and its use are considered required by the government and, as such, is paid for at our expense, not yours.

"I ask you to take Gurn Piscium's contact information and provide as much time as you can over the next few days with her to familiarize her with her duties as Gurn. The better you do, the better she will be able to help us during the deliberations on the Union's Good Governance Program.

"Hanalei, I am looking forward to your work in helping the Asocan Realm on this issue. Learn while you are here and via ICS Comms after you return to Liramor-23. Pick Praatra's brain. I'm sure she will be delighted to find a Gurn of your intelligence asking questions of her." The Asoc said that with a look askance at Praatra that held a sly smile in it. Praatra knew it was a personal dig at her by the Asoc. However, she was indeed intrigued by the Asoc's comment. Most of those who become Gurn are intelligent but there was the intelligence of book smarts and then there was the intelligence of street smarts. From what she had already learned of Hanalei, Praatra suspected she would prove to be an interesting Gurn.

"Kumaraie, Palda Prakeshya, Palda Junelliya, I look forward to our deliberations on the planet GiRomorAR. I hope that we can begin to quickly push your people to the new planet and allow you to open it and make use of it.

"What deliberations we do, you will also have to conduct with the Union, as your current home worlds fall within their realm. It is my belief that the current contracts between your people will continue, however, you will not know all before our discussions begin and that could influence what may occur between your people and the Union.

"I would give you one piece of advice; stand on the current contract. The Union will have to offer you much in order to modify it. That will give you a significant edge in dealing with them," the Asoc finished, getting a giggle from Prakeshya.

"Asoc, before we return to our homes, we should take the time to investigate GiRomorAR, so that the Pod-Drran and the Maha-Rrin will have an immediate impression of their new home world," Hanalei suggested.

"An excellent suggestion, let us say, in three days time, after all the celebrations end?" the Asoc agreed getting nods from the Kumaraie, Prakeshya, Junelliya, and Shugrand Mutt Herrtt, the Minister for the Interior for the Asoc's government.

"Kumaraie, Palda Prakeshya, Palda Junelliya, and Gurn Piscium, I would ask that you withdraw so that my ministers and I can discus Asocan government business.

As the door closed on them, Hanalei heard the Asoc say: "Now, ministers...in order with the Minister of the Interior leading, I would like your morning briefs."

Main Square of the >Clot<, Asoc Shall, AsocAR

The children had risen early (an hour later than their mothers did) as they were going to see and exercise with Aunty Kim and Aunty Ululla. Fayad and his children arrived just as Kumaroe Jarl and the two boys did.

"Ah, Fayad, your entourage is almost as large as mine now," Jarl smiled noting the number of people following Fayad and the children.

"I'm just glad I don't have to find a place for them in my household on Liramor-23. I'm not sure if I could," Fayad replied good naturedly.

Kim took the four children aside and gave them each a wooden mock-up of their Damate.

"You are to wear this at all times now that you are starting your training in earnest," Kim said in a tone that did not brook any nonsense. "These wooden Damates are heavier than your real ones to help you in your training.

"Like your real Damate, you will not draw it unless you intend to use it. Do you all understand?" Kim demanded of the four.

"Yes Sensei!" the children returned immediately.

"Unlike your real Damate, you will not have to blood these ones," Kim smiled to the children, getting relieved looks from the two Piscium girls.

Kim gave them over to Ululla who put them through several unarmed combat routines before giving them back to Kim, who showed them three Katas for their Damates.

"You will practice these Katas three times each day. I will leave it up to you when but ensure that you do the practice," Kim instructed the children.

"While the Pod-Drran are naturally graceful, human children are not. You will have to work hard to catch up to your co-family members, Ikekiya and Zarreniya," Kim finished.

"Fayad, if you have the opportunity, I would enroll them in dance classes to help them enhance their balance and agility," Ululla suggested, getting a nod from Fayad as the class broke up.

Imperial Arl, Asoc Shall, AsocAR

The children were thrilled to be exercising with Shusshhttookkann, the Sandekk Elder and leader of the Imperial Arl. While their Caregivers were much more reluctant, the children eagerly clambered onto the Elder's back and let her know they were ready while the Caregivers carefully climbed up, much to the amusement of Shusshhttookkann and the other Sandekk. As old as the Sandekk lived to be, they had seen this reluctance many times before.

Eventually, the children, Fayad, the Kumaroe, the Caregivers, and several of the Kumir-Rai/Ro were loaded on the backs of Shusshhttookkann, Chellitanni, and the male Shassshgallann. They all headed out onto the lake that bounded the Imperial Arl.

The children kept up a constant chatter with the Caregivers and the Kumir-Rai/Ro in order to make them feel more at ease. As they became calmer and more used to being with the Sandekk, they eventually entered into the spirit of the event as the Sandekk picked up remarkable speed in the water, racing each other across the lake.

Eventually, they returned to the Arl and the children, Ikekiya and Zarreniya in particular, asked for more language lessons. Caye-Ur made an entrance to the Arl not long after the language lessons had begun.

"Good morning, Elder Shusshhttookkann," she greeted the Elder with a bow. "The Asoc has sent you a gift."

Caye-Ur opened a presentation box and lifted one of the comps that Shusshhttookkann had seen all of the humans, the leaders of the Greater Community, and many Asocans, wearing. This one was much larger than the others and also had a much larger strap to attach it to her forepaw near its wrist.

"This particular model has much better shock absorption which should allow for you to wear it without worry of breaking it while you run," Caye-Ur stated. "As the Elder of the Sandekk, the Asoc has purchased your comp and provided you with governmental access for your device."

Caye then pulled out four smaller boxes for the children, giving them their very first comps to use. The children were ecstatic. They immediately tried to access the internet only to be faced with a 'Nanny' as the comps initially blocked them.

"Your fathers will help set up the Nanny feature of your comps. You will also have to go through the Nanny's testing program so that it can establish a baseline for your use," Caye informed them. Fayad and the Kumaroe sat down with their respective children and started the process of setting up their comps and the 'Nanny Comp' feature for them.

Caye went through the process of registering Shusshhttookkann's biometrics for her comp and linking it to the system. She showed her how to make use of the device and showed her an instruction program that would help her learn about it and its uses. It was all in Asocan as there was no language matrix yet for the Sandekk.

"Daddy," Zarreniya looked to her father on hearing that, "we speak with Miss Litton. She make new language key for Sandekk."

"You are right, Zarreniya," her father said with a smile. He arranged for the Nanny to link to Dr. Litton's comp number and Zarreniya initiated the link, getting a surprise on the other end when the unknown number was opened by the linguist.

"Zarreniya! You have a comp!" she said.

"Uh huh. We have new fwends, Miss Litton. They have new language. We need new language key in matrix for them," Zarreniya explained, moving her comp to show the Sandekk to a much surprised Dr. Litton.

"These are the Sandekk, Hillary," Fayad said sitting next to his daughter. "They are the second intelligent species on AsocAR. They share the Asocan's society instead of making their own, though they do have their own language and customs.

"The children have been learning their language while they have been here," Fayad ended.

"Of course they have," Hillary laughed. "Very well children, if you send me what you have already, I will start a new listing on the Greater Community Language Matrix for them. You have to understand that it could take awhile before we can post it on the system."

The children cheered and thanked Hillary while Fayea jumped and flew around because of their excitement. They closed the link and the children began to immediately record all of the Sandekk language they had memorized along with the translations while Shusshhttookkann listened with half an ear to them. She was surprised when she realized that the children had made only one error, which she swiftly corrected.

Once she had been shown how to use the device, Shusshhttookkann opened her comms feature to the Asoc and thanked her profusely for the gift, much to the amusement of her friend.

"I have also ordered comps for the remainder of the Imperial Arl, Shusshhttookkann. I have no idea how long it will take to receive them but you can ask Caye-Ur about that," the Asoc informed her.

That drew an immediate response from the members of the Imperial Arl who crowded around Caye-Ur asking excitedly about their new devices. Caye laughed aloud at the actions of the oversized creatures millennia old acting like young human teens.

The children started an impromptu language lesson with the members of the Arl, which they recorded for Miss Hillary. Eventually, they encapsulated everything and sent it in an email to the language professor, who was very intrigued when she finally saw all that they had accomplished over the last week.

"We should higher those two," Hillary quipped to her boss, Dr. Sylvia Hitron, getting laughter from the other.

"If they keep bringing us items such as this, I will take you up on that offer," Sylvia replied. She was fascinated by the new species that they had no idea existed before the comms from the children. "We shall have to see if we can go to AsocAR and meet the Sandekk in person."

Piscium Family Rooms, The >Clot<, Asoc Shall, AsocAR

Hanalei, Junelliya, Prakeshya, the Kumaraie and her Kumar-Rai returned to the Piscium rooms near lunch time with the Asoc and Praatra in tow, just as the children, Fayad, the Kumaroe, and their entourages were returning.

The children showed their mothers their new comps while the Kumaroe gave Prakeshya her own.

They excitedly told their mothers and guests all about their morning exercising and learning from Aunty Kim, Aunty Ululla, and the Sandekk.

"Shusshhttookkann sad, mommy," Zarreniya told her mother.

"Why sad, Zarreniya?" Junelliya asked.

"She not happy for her people," Ikekiya explained. "Not know why."

"Shusshhttookkann was telling me that her people are dying on AsocAR," Fayad explained. "I think she is looking for something to help stem the tide."

"It is true," the Asoc admitted. "Since the time of the mad Asoc Minatran, the Sandekk numbers have been dwindling. Without something to help them, the Sandekk will pass into history. Because of their long lives, this will take considerable time for that to happen. They need a reason to continue living."

"Maybe we should go speak with the Elder after lunch," Junelliya suggested.

"Just us adults so that we can talk openly with the Sandekk," Hanalei hurriedly included as she saw the sparks rising in the children's eyes.

Plans were quickly made and all went to eat.

The Imperial Arl, The >Clot<, Asoc Shall, AsocAR

The group of adult females entered the Arl not long after the children had been left in the care of their two human nannies, the Pod-Drran Crèche Mothers, and the Asocan Caregivers for an afternoon of learning on all subjects which openly made use of their new comps. That was more than enough to please the little ones.

The group came to Shusshhttookkann and just asked her what was wrong.

"Myyy peopllle arrre dyyying, Asssoc," Shusshhttookkann sadly informed them. "Hafffe been forrr centurrriesss now. It isss asss ifff theyyy hafffe lossst the willl to lllifffe. We arrre no lllongerr needed asss beassstsss of burrrden asss we onssse werre. I know not what to do forrr myyy peopllle to encourrrage them to want to lllifffe."

"They are no longer content to be the beasts of burden for the Asocans, no longer content to live with the Asocans as they are, are they Shusshhttookkann?" Junelliya asked as she realized what part of the problem could be.

"No Palllda Djunellliyyya, theyyy arrre not," Shusshhttookkann admitted.

"They need a challenge that would encourage an entire species," Hanalei stated. "That is not something that we can create easily."

"Actually, it is," the Kumaraie interjected. "We, the sister races of the Pod-Drran and the Maha-Rrin, are about to embark on building a new civilization on another planet, for the second time in our long history."

"That is a perfect idea," the Asoc said, suddenly perking up. "Shusshhttookkann, what if the Asocan Realm gave the Sandekk a planet to open, to make their own.

"The Sandekk can survive in conditions that the Asocans cannot. They do not need swamps to breed in as the Asocans do. We can give you a world where there are no suitable swamps for us that you could then work to tame. You would be opening not only a new planet but also creating your own civilization.

"However, I would like to continue the tradition of the Imperial Arl so that we, the government, can make use of your innate abilities of seeing a person's possible destiny," the Asoc stated.

"I am surrre that we can make sssome kind of accommodasssion forrr yyyou, Asssoc," Shusshhttookkann admitted. "We can dedicate a grrroup of Sandekk forrr the Arrrlll who can be ssswitched out afffterrr seffferrral centurrriesss. Thisss willl gifffe alll offf usss an opporrrtunityyy to worrrk on ourrr new home worrrllld and cifffilllisssasssion. Therrre willl alllssso lllikellly be sssome who woullld prrreferrr not to go to the new plllanet to ssstarrrt with ifff efffferrr.

"Howeffferrr, therrre isss the cossst of thisss prrroposssalll, Asssoc. Ourrr peopllle hafffe fundsss but not the kind nesssesssarrryyy to open a new plllanet," Shusshhttookkann indicated.

"Yes, there is always that," the Asoc replied. "I am sure that we can arrange something with Director Marsh for the movement of your people and the Greater Community has now begun to pool its resources in order to respond to incidents like that which occurred during OP Oran.

"Funds can be found; they can be negotiated between our peoples. But we need some way of bringing the Sandekk before the Greater Community who, for the most part, know nothing of you," the Asoc ended.

"Actually, I might be able to do something about that," Junelliya said with a lop sided grin.

The University of Asoc Shall, Asoc Shall, AsocAR

Costann Hallan Mutt Beddan (Costann roughly translates as Dean of Faculty), of the University of Asoc Shall, was ecstatic. The Palda Junelliya had requested time to give her first ever lecture in her subject of expertise, the differences in the music between the races of the Greater Community.

As soon as she had heard about Junelliya's dissertation, Hallan had requested two copies for the university, well, one for the university, the other for herself. After reading only a portion of it, she had to admit that she would likely purchase other copies for the music department. The paper was a marvel of understanding of the differences in musical styles of the Interspecies community, how they were developed in antiquity, and the current evolving traits of that music due to the impact of the music of other races.

Hallan had been making use of the phenomenal translation ability of her new comp, which was turning out to be a very remarkable instrument. The translator was able to make translations dependent on the level of education of the owner. Since Hallan was a university professor, the translations were level five computer translations that only required minor changes that Hallan input into the finished product.

When she discovered that the translation had automatically been saved into her comp's memory, she had inquired of Malton University if she could print out copies in the Asocan language. Malton University had given her a quote for the licensing of the document with the admonition that Hallen send a copy of the final translation for Malton's own library once it was completed and edited.