<h2>Planet 5 / Ch. 33: Avoiding riots</h2>


    Pre-departure report, planetary contact group, Planet 5


    The time has come to decide how to proceed in regards to this planet. The task of checking the translated scripture is approaching its end, and it is obvious that while we''d be welcome to stay, there are too many risks of building a dependency culture if we do. The Tunganese speakers among our friends are a little disappointed that their language does not get a whole ''direct'' translation, but as none of them hear thoughts the process of drafting was taking far longer and has been far more error-prone. And as the last attempt at recruiting checkers ended with Semtan being added to our team — as a ''sacrifice to the gods'' — we felt it wise to just stop trying. We will leave them with the knowledge of how to continue, of course, and plan to create a secure library for Semtan and her team, near to her home in the leeward mountains.


    Our prime tasks done, we must not stay while people all over the planet think that ''sacrificing'' one another to us is a good idea, and indeed it would be good if the whole concept of human sacrifice — present in several of the nastier local religions — were totally obliterated. Thus, rather than simply the social and technological developments currently considered wise (global communication and peaceful intergovernmental discussions) we will also leave them with the challenge of eradicating this attitude that says spiritual forces need appeasing with human life.


    <hr>


    </a>A small shepherd''s hut near the top of a mountain, Kanuga.


    “Testing testing from a mountain-top in Kanuga. Is anyone listening?” Tangseng said into the radio.


    “Lady Tangseng? Why are you on a mountain top?” Naneela''s voice replied.


    “Is there anyone else listening?”


    “Not that I know of. Why?”


    “Because according to a book I''ve read, radio frequency electromagnetic radiation gets reflected by conductive surfaces, and there''s quite a lot of gold in this here mountain. Silver too, which is an even better conductor of course.”


    “You''ve read a book on electromagnetic radiation?”


    “My queen cordially invites you to visit the until-now-secret library of Kanuga, princess Naneela; you and your husband-to-be. Please don''t tell too many people about the library, only about a quarter of our people know about it at all. Not all the friends of the aliens spoke Windwardese, you see, and one of them said ''No one in their right mind would ever invade Kanuga, you could defend it with a dead sheep, and the only resource other than dead sheep and people who stink worse is that useless yellow metal.'' She then got a brief reminder on economics and the practical uses of gold and they went to talk to her dad, the chief of the Kanugans. Please don''t forget to breathe. The aliens told us it''s much much better to find things out yourself, so keep the library secret until the challenge is almost met.”


    “Kanuga can help against the sun?”


    “No, sorry, we''re not that advanced. The aliens thought they''d get in trouble if they left us that much technology. But you''ve got the imagination and the designs, we can probably help scale them up and certainly provide the power.”


    “Urm, am I interrupting a private conversation?” a new voice said.


    “Hello, Hayeel. Please introduce yourself Tangseng, while I breathe deeply and try not to faint.”


    “Hello, do I have the pleasure of talking to Duchess Hayeel of Repink?”


    “That''s me. Prince Salay is beside me.”


    “Hello imperial highness, your grace. I''m Trader Tangseng of Kanuga, and I was just inviting the princess to look at our secret library, it only seemed fair with her pooling her knowledge so openly.”


    “I take it you''d rather we not talk about your secret library to anyone?” Hayeel asked.


    “Please.”


    “And you''re the semi-ambassador that his majesty offered the barony in Repink to?”


    “I am, my queen has confirmed the ambassador bit, but I need to decline the baroness, I think. My queen has plans for me here which might upset people if I was a baroness of the empire too.”


    “A shame, but I understand. I still think it''s strange to be considered part of the High Council of Tesk while I''m Salay''s ambassador and duchess too, but apparently that sort of holding multiple-titles is common this side of the continent. The king of the Isles is also a noble on Tesk, for instance. But that''s more of a judicial role than a reigning one.”


    “I heard about the dum-semb there. I''m glad the infection is being dealt with. The challenge is more strict on human sacrifice than anything else, I think. I seem to remember reading that the message from the probe would say ''If this planet is free from people who practice human sacrifice, ask them about their progress on the other matters''.”


    “How do we find everyone? It''s impossible!” Naneela said.


    “Not for God, nor someone with the sort of knowledge He gives those with the alien''s divine gift.” Tangseng pointed out.


    “The full gift of Tesk?” Hayeel asked.


    “Yes.” Tangseng agreed.


    “Can someone explain what that is to me?” Naneela asked.


    “It is an ability to think to any who hear thoughts, anywhere. And to hear the thoughts of anyone and understand them, and also to know things about them, and to find people by a description.” Tangseng answered.


    “Ah. Truly a gift of the Spirit,” Naneela said.


    “Sadly, no one on the planet has had that gift since the aliens left.” Tangseng added.


    “I heard someone claim his ancestor, the father of the empress of Tesk had it.” Hayeel corrected.


    “Still a long time ago. But yes, more recent than I said, I stand corrected.” Tangseng said. “So we must pray: pray that all efforts to destroy this plague on our planet are successful, pray that if we are not, the aliens will be merciful enough to get in contact anyway, and pray for someone with such a gift to appear in our midst.” Tuga, she noticed was looking distinctly uncomfortable.


    “And that when they do, they do not find their hearts quail at the thought of sending people to their deaths.” Hayeel said. “That is a constant theme from some in Tesk. ''Has there not been enough killing? Can we not be more merciful?''”


    “But so far the answer is ''no''?” Tangseng checked.


    “So far the answer is ''we are as merciful as we can be, not condemning those who have confessed their sins and turned from them.''” Hayeel replied.


    “So actually we know that there will be those alive who have taken part in human sacrifices.” Naneela pointed out.


    “Before they turned to Christ, yes.” Hayeel said.


    “I pray that the aliens think of that qualification when they check, then. I think no one imagined that there might be this sort of situation; believing we had eradicated it, we find it back and in huge numbers.”


    “Total eradication is beyond what rulers or laws can solve without God sending us help,” Salay said, “On Tesk they were able to ask people to report suspicious callousness or corruption. But there''s no way we can purge this evil from our midst in the time available, even if all the people were brave enough to complain. There are too many moderately corrupt officials to find the totally corrupt. It would be good to rid ourselves of that evil as well, of course, but executing or imprisoning all the corrupt would take lifetimes when we have a couple of years.”


    Hayeel added, “But like on Tesk, we must involve the churches, surely? Asking them to pray and preach against the evils and that God will send help.”


    “And if we cannot purge ourselves of this evil, then we know what judgement awaits us.” Naneela said. “Father is busy at the moment, but I will tell him of this conversation.”


    “And Naneela, I think you must be brave and travel, and do so soon. If father tells the people that judgement is coming because of an extreme form of corruption...”


    “Please,” Naneela said, “ask those around you to pray for wisdom for father and for internal peace in the empire.”


    “I am Eva, from Tesk. Please, honourable peoples, I just hear and must warn, dum-semb recruits in riots and rejoices in turning the anger against those who stand against it.”


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    “Thank you Eva!” Hayeel said, then switching to Windwardese, continued, “This is Hayeel, it is a good warning and your pronunciation was excellent. Some grammar mistakes, but don''t worry, you were perfectly understandable, except... did you want to say you''d only just turned on?”


    “We turned on because we had arranged to talk to Esme soon, then I got called because no one was able to guess what the conversation was about. I just got here to hear his imperial highness speaking of what might happen if the people are told.”


    “Thank you, Eva. A good interruption. Let me check, I don''t know if Trader Tangseng, who''s in Kanuga, speaks Windwardese.” Switching language, she asked “Did everyone understand that?”


    “I understand, but not speak good.” Tangseng said. “Is third language.”


    “Most noble Trader Tangseng, I, Eva of the High Council, greet thee and thy Queen most warmly from Tesk!” Eva said in Tunganese, “and hope I did not make any mistakes in my second language.”


    “Your pronunciation is excellent, Eva, but it seems your teachers have taught you the formal, which is not often spoken now anywhere I know of. You will be understood, but those who have never struggled to learn a language they rarely hear will think you are strange.”


    “But it is written?” Eva asked.


    “It is a written form here in Kanuga, in official records. Maybe also in some of our neighbouring kingdoms, I''m not sure.”


    “Fortunately, I can translate for my beloved Hayeel,” Salay said, “Or she would be feeling left out at this point. I must say I''m enjoying the experience of being the translator for once.”


    “So much for secret messages.” Tangseng said in Dahelese. “Soon we will have to change to other frequencies. Perhaps that should be you and I, Princess Naneela?”


    “Mark the dial positions first. Carefully!” Naneela said.


    “Or perhaps we should try your new radio?”


    “It does not work on the same frequency range.”


    “I know. My class-mates said science was fun. Can you tell me a frequency? Roughly, I mean. Or would you like my science-loving friends to send out a tone?”


    “I confused,” Eva said.


    “Some of the aliens'' friends went to Tesk, Eva. Most of them came to mountainous Kanuga. The records on Tesk ought to say that much. Teaching basic science to the kids gave them something to do in the evenings. That much you can tell the High Council and Esmetherelda. You may also say that a lot of us have faith and my queen has decided it is time to start helping and be more open about the knowledge we have kept safe through the centuries, and which has kept us safe from our barbarian neighbours. I have invited Naneela to come and visit, it should help her in her research as long as she doesn''t get distracted.”


    “And we will carefully not ask which neighbours they considered barbarians,”


    Salay said, “in case they find lying morally questionable.”


    “I was actually thinking about some of our own citizens, highness.” Tangseng said, “I wouldn''t dream of describing your family as a barbarians after seeing the Heart of the Empire.”


    “Oh dear,” Naneela said, “We should have invited you inside earlier, shouldn''t we? Can your friends find out where I''m transmitting? It ought to be near ten megahertz, but my receiver puts it nearer ten and three quarters.”


    “And the receiver has a five hundred kilohertz intermediate frequency?”


    “Yes.”


    “OK, well, transmit for a minute and then pause for two seconds, and then repeat, they''ll try talking to you in your gaps. Oh, OK, they say they can hear your signal already. Congratulations to whoever did the coil winding, you''re at ten point oh five megahertz, and.. oh dear, that''s sad.”


    “What''s sad?”


    “Ancient devices that work for five minutes don''t always stay working. Which is why they don''t get used much.”


    “The receiver broke?”


    “Yes. And repairing that particular one might be tricky. Let''s hope it''s just a bad connection or something. So, they won''t be talking to you today, sorry.”


    “It''s vitally important that I come, isn''t it?” Naneela asked.


    “Is your honourable father listening?” Tangseng guessed.


    “Yes, he''s just come in.”


    “My guess is that if you come and stay for winter, it will do two things, highness. It will ensure that if there are troubles you and your work will be well protected from them, and it will also allow you to work on a transmitter suitable for meeting the challenge. If you do not come, I will try to bring some of the smaller test equipment when I return, but I am no expert in using it, and if it breaks it stays broken until it can come back here.”


    “Thank you for your honest appraisal, Trader Tangseng. Naneela has supplied some context. I think I would appreciate some proofs, before I allow my daughter to head off to a nation that we have not always treated well.”


    “Proof of historic data and ancient artifacts, of good intentions, or that my queen, having invited your daughter will allow her to return in safety? I think that the former are easier, the latter pair are harder.”


    “The latter pair are much harder, yes.” the emperor agreed.


    “And the time is short, I think, before the seas become too dangerous. So I will bring what test equipment I can to speed the princess'' work, and of course we will pray that any riots in the central zone do not reach the palace or the research centre.”


    “Father, let me explain the possibility of riots. It was my thought,” Salay said. “Trader Tangseng says her records of the challenge say that messenger probe will return and tell it''s makers'' descendents to check if we''ve really eradicated human sacrifice before making contact. We need God''s help; He could send us one with gift of sending thoughts across planets and finding those who must face trial. Without such divine knowledge, we may never hear from the aliens whose help we need. Surely we must ask all the faithful to pray?


    "But... how can we do that without sharing the need? And if we share the need, might there not be panic and riots? And we have an additional warning from Tesk that dum-semb recruits in riots and turns them against other targets.”


    “Thank you, Salay. You make me glad once more that God promises wisdom to those who ask. This is obviously a matter to discuss with all rulers.”


    “Imperial majesty, would you like our ambassadors to the other nations to pass on your desire that they send ambassadors? It might save some time.”


    “You don''t think they''d like it to come from their ambassadors to you?”


    “Most of them don''t have permanent ambassadors to us, Imperial Majesty. they find the idea of growing their own food demeaning and can''t afford to buy it.”


    “Even your smallest coins are truly gold, as the rumours say, then?”


    “Yes. But there are trading possibilities, as you know.”


    “Your gold-mines will run out eventually.”


    “That''s why we''re careful about it leaving the borders, and only traders like myself can export it.”


    “But your ambassadors presumably buy food where they live.”


    “All our ambassadors are traders, Imperial Majesty. My queen confirms me in thebposition of ambassador, by the way. And I''m going to blame you and that ideabof making me a baroness for the fact that she''s named me heir-presumptive.”


    “You''re her daughter?”


    “No, imperial majesty, she has one son, who has no interest in being a ruler, he enjoys science far too much.”


    “What sort of science?” Naneela asked.


    “I''m not sure. But it''s probably something the aliens didn''t leave us instructions for.”


    <hr>


    </a>Half way down the mountain


    “Tuga? You''re being very quiet.”


    “There''s a lot to think about.”


    “But you''re not thinking about a lot of things, you''re thinking about not worrying me, and feeling guilty.”


    “I keep forgetting you can do that. Sorry.”


    “I don''t, most of the time. What''s wrong?” Tangseng asked.


    “So many things I don''t know. Like, those two men on the other side of the valley,nwhy are they there, and why are they trying to stay in the shadows?” Tuga asked.


    There were two figures, one larger, one smaller, both wearing very dusty or maybe just dust-coloured clothes and simple worker''s caps. They both carried backpacks.


    “They''re staying in the shadows because they shouldn''t be there. Their clothes look Tungan.”


    “Problem?”


    “Problem for them. On a certain scheme of things they''re probably to be.congratulated for getting so far into the country, but...”


    “But your sentries aren''t?” Tuga asked.


    “You can''t guard every pass.” Tangseng looked down the path and then back thenway they''d come. “Bother.”


    “What?”


    “We either turn back and they notice and maybe realise they''re in trouble, or we get a lot closer to the bottom of the valley and thus to them before we call for help.”


    “Call for help? What, shout?”


    “No, there are telephones. Why are you feeling so guilty, Tuga? And why does me talking about hearing your thoughts always make you feel guilty? Ever since I first told you I could, it''s done the same.”


    “Urm, because I''ve been running away from God most of my adult life, and you being able to get snippets of what I''m thinking remind me of it.”


    “You told me that running from God was a bad idea, Tuga.”


    “Speaking from experience. Yes. Can we change the subject? What do we do about those men?”


    Tangseng looked at him for a while and said, “You never seemed surprised that I could sometimes hear your thoughts. Do you know someone else who can?”


    Tuga sighed, “Who could. Yes.”


    “What happened?”


    “Tangseng, when we first met, we agreed that we wouldn''t talk about what had happened that I was prepared to let you make all my decisions for me for five years.”


    “You''ve made a few decisions since. Like asking me to marry you.”


    “I figured you would cry again if I didn''t. I hate to see you cry, Tangseng.bAnd that wasn''t the only reason, of course. Others include you being beautiful and wonderful and kind and clever and  nice to hug and being a much better person than I am. I don''t know what you see in me really.”


    “You make me feel safe, you don''t think I''m totally weird for leaving home and taking up the life of a wandering negotiator, and from the moment we''ve met the feeling that you wouldn''t ever try to take advantage of me.”


    “Silly feeling. I''ve been using you for years to get away from uncomfortable questions at home.”


    “What about?”


    “Tangseng, my beautiful and beloved wife, you know, sometimes you treat too much in the world like a negotiation, and don''t believe people are actually trying to tell you something.”


    “What didn''t I listen to?” Tangseng asked.


    “When you were cutting our engagement too short, you didn''t listen to people suggesting that employer-employee conversations aren''t the same as between an engaged couple, you didn''t listen when I suggested we spend a few months getting to know each other better and working out if it was really a good idea. You didn''t pay attention to all the looks at me when the pastor was saying about ''talking about everything''.


    "You didn''t listen to people saying you didn''t know me very well. You still don''t, or you''d know that this isn''t a conversation to start on the way towards a probable encounter with people who shouldn''t be here. I can''t do ''protect my beloved'' when I''m feeling torn between running away from my responsibilities again and collapsing into an emotional heap.”


    “Should we turn back? We could spend the night in the hut, free from any interruptions.”


    “Or we could drop the topic of conversation and pretend it didn''t happen.”


    “I think I vote for turning round.” Tangseng said, stopping. “I''m not good at pretending.”


    “You''re very good at pretending,” Tuga corrected. “That''s what makes you such a good negotiator. You can be desperate to seal a deal but you''ll still walk away.”


    “I''m not good at hiding my curiosity from you.”


    “You have done before.” Tuga pointed out reasonably.


    “That was before we got married, Tuga. I want to remedy my lack of interest in my husband''s past.”


    “Not until we''re in the hut, you''ve told people we''re there and we might not come down for three days.”


    “Three days?”


    “Jonah was in the fish that long, wasn''t he?” Tuga pointed out, and then grinned. “And he wasn''t having a lovely romantic get-away with his wife.”


    “That hut as a lovely romantic get-away?”


    “I plan to enjoy whatever chances I get.” Tuga said, shifting the heavy radio on his back “It''s not like we got our honeymoon.”