ABLE (Jim Able: Offworld Book 1) by Ed Charlton (13 inch ebook reader txt) 📗

Here there were several seats arranged before a small platform. Sopha sat on an ornate chair on the platform. He gestured for Jim to sit on one of the seats below him.

This is not a meeting of equals, Jim thought, but I can wait.

“Would you like some refreshments?”

Jim nodded. “Sure.”

He thought, What was it Madhar said about sharing food?

Sopha clapped his hands, and three blue-cloaked figures appeared with their hoods up, obscuring their faces. With lightning efficiency and precision, they arranged a small table next to him. On it was a cup, a jug of cold brown liquid, and several small plates of unfamiliar food.

“Thank you very much,” Jim said, trying to catch the eye of one of the servers.

“They will not speak. These are three of my sons. They are in training at the moment and are restricted in their activities.”

“Oh, do you have a large family?”

“I am blessed with fourteen offspring.”

“Ah...Congratulations.”

“And you?”

“No. I have no family. I’m not married.”

Sopha said nothing but nodded and continued to gaze fixedly on his face as, Jim realized, he had been doing since they sat down.

Sopha began to speak in Standard as Jim sipped the drink. “Let us review why you have come to me. You come from a race whose joy is in exploration. You actively seek other races. You relish trade and exchange. ‘Perhaps,’ you say to yourselves, ‘this Turcanian race will trade with us?’ Then you seek me, for you know I have traveled. Then you send messages to me, hoping to continue such dealings.”

“That’s a fair summary. We wish to learn about you. We mean you no harm. I was to contact your government first, to ask for permission and for help. Madhar Nect explained something of your world’s politics to me. And so I found you by myself. When I began, I did not know of the—shall I say—differences between the Regdenir and the audnir.”

“It is sad that you first went to the blind to ask what they see.”

“I don’t understand.”

“No, James Able, you do not. That is why I have met with you. I will teach you. I will show you the truth of this matter so you may go back to Earth and trouble us no more. You are ignorant of our ways, through no choice of yours, but you have been in the company of those whose ignorance is by choice. Did you visit Madhar Nect by day or night?”

“I arrived after dark and left early in the morning.”

“And let me tell you what she did. She took you inside her dwelling. She fed you and talked to you, but at no time did she open a window or look out of her door. All night. Is this correct?”

“I...I suppose so. Is that important?”

“I will teach you. The audnir are pitiable creatures. They have blinded themselves and wander lost. They claim to seek knowledge. They proclaim their ‘science.’ They extol their politics and studies of society and psychology. Perhaps they are right, and darkness and confusion are the fate of all creatures. The Regdenir stand against their ignorance.”

“I’m not following you at all.”

“No, but you will. I will answer the question you asked me. We must both prepare for this evening.”

“Prepare for what this evening?”

“No. Prepare for this evening. You wish to know of our religious observances. Tonight, you will join me in our main worship. You will be the first person from another world to witness such things. Tonight, I will teach you.”

Jim let this news sink in for a moment.

“I am honored. What will I have to do?”

“You will have to open your eyes and your ears. You will bring your mind, the mind that successfully solved the puzzle of my identity, to bear on more weighty matters. You will have to see where you have thought yourself blind.”

Jim said nothing.

“For the remainder of the daylight hours, I must return to my work. Join me that you may see the achievements of the Regdenir.”

Jim allowed himself a moment of satisfaction. He had found Edward and overcome the Regdenir’s initial refusal to meet. He had been welcomed as a guest. He would witness a religious ritual, which perhaps the rest of the Turcanian population had never seen. So far, so good, and not at all bad, he thought, for a first job back from medical leave.

Sopha led Jim back through the fountain room and through a small door.

They were in a room about thirty feet square. It had no windows. Along three of the walls were computer consoles. One wall had a grid of twelve monitors. Beneath the grid were one keyboard and several other small devices.

“From here we can access the recorded wisdom of the Regdenir. This is our work. This is trade. This is our exploration, James Able.”

“Nect said you had your Holy Scriptures in a database.”

“At the core of what you will see are the words of scripture, yes. All our efforts are in the study and exploration of the truths within them. The language of the old times is difficult. I doubt that your training will have prepared you for it.”

“No, from what I saw in the Regde99 message area, it didn’t.”

“Would it surprise you to know that most Regdenir do not understand it either?”

“I...yes. Don’t you study it?”

“Most only study the main translations, the commentaries, the discussions, and the analyses. It is sad that our young do not delve deeper. Such are the times we live in.”

Sopha took his seat under the large grid of monitors. Jim watched as one by one they came to life. Sopha was joining in on twelve concurrent conversations, much like the one Jim had started in Regde99. He switched from screen to screen fluidly, adding a message and moving on. As he worked, the lists of messages were constantly refreshing as other correspondents weighed in on each topic.

“Forgive me a moment, James Able. I must catch up on certain matters. I will explain more to you shortly.”

“That’s okay, if you don’t mind