Added characters, hopefully better logic, and now with a date and made up localation.
I don't know if I've gotten the Ur lisp right. I don't have my copies marked for Ur, only Hoon. Comment on this version--not the first draft. ------------------- The human's old story about the race between the tortoise and the hare was never very popular with the other sept of Jijo. In fact it was never really understood. Some 'wolfling' concepts did not translate well into the uplifted civilization of the Five Galaxies. This was true even with those jijoian races had abandoned almost all of the befefits of that civilization. A hare that took the time to sleep during a contest had too much personal hubris to be able to be a representative of one's race. Such an er would have been disqualified by its own kin, and a replacement would have been found. Someone with a better sense of duty to er's clan. "On Jijo, the hare is a g'Kek and the tortoise is a traeki or a qheuen. A g'Kek will always beat a qheuen in a race." So stated the g'Kek Vebbin to the qheuen Face Maker. Repeatedly. "Hoon are stronger, Traeki are stinkier, and g'Kek are faster then the Qheuen," Vebbin would always state. Then whenever she remembered to be polite, she added "But no one can sculpt like a qheuen." It had only been forty seven years since the creation of the Great Peace. An event that was not so long ago that old feelings could not once again resurface for even the slightest of reasons. Everyone was trying to be polite to everyone else. The other races in the village were being polite to to the recently transplanted g'Kek families. They all knew of the economic advantage they'd aquired by now having a local source of quality first rate stitched sails and knotted fine mesh nets. No more waiting for a shipment to be exported from somewhere far to the north. And to the south was Wuphon, where they could now be the exporter for finished sails and nets. As for the rest, basically the Hoon specialized in their sailing, the Qheuen specialized in ship construction and fish farming, the single human family specialized in not being specialized, and the lone traeki tried to keep everyone else healthy. In praising Qheuen carving, Face Maker was also always praised. Face Marker had a particular, well noted talent for carving and sculpting wood. Even among the Qheuen. No other qheuen had ever gotten such a unique name. Then again, no other qheuen had ever looked up while still in the infant's pen to see a human face in the observation port, and then proceed to accurately carve that face into the wooden floor. It was only ment to be taken as an inalterable matter of fact, diversity as it is, or the luck of the roll of Ifni's dice, whenever Vebbin said what she said, that, "No qheuen could ever beat a g'Kek in a race." But that matter of fact was probably stated a bit too often. Face Maker became fixated on the idea of proving that statement false. Not always, of course. Just once would be enough. He'd seen Phwed, the adult male human-for-hire of the village do logic charts in the sand. Even a flyspeck's worth of intersection with a circle means that a statement true to almost all of the circle can no longer be made for the entire circle. So, how to do it? Not underwater. That wouldn't be fair. It'd have to be on neutral ground. Or even on terrain that would normally favor a g'Kek. Face Maker confided with Phwed and told him his dream. One of Phwed's unspecialized specialities was in being neutral to all, and tattletale to none. "You know I always take the more cautious route," Phwed said with a wink. "I took my name from one of the old human books of cartoon art, but changed it a bit by adding an extra letter." "Why so?" Face Maker asked, fully aware that in doing so he was only being a straight man. "Two hundred and fifty years is a long time in Earthclan terms. One never knows how the copyright laws might have changed." Face Maker did his best to vent a traeki fart as laughter. "That is _definitely_ being cautious." "As to your problem, solve it quickly, or give up on the idea," his human friend concluded. "If you don't, you'll soon have your brain running in circles." * * * * The Qheuen are not the sept best known for having abstract thoughts. But by and far they are the race best known for both having and holding abstract visualizations. When the eye is on top and can't see what the mouth on the underside is doing, there's really no other way for the brain to develop. Coordination exists in having the mind be able to remember an item three dimensionally by both visual and tactile sensations, and then to transfer that image from one medium to the other. Face Maker started to visualize a qheuen and a g'Kek at the same time. Then he made the revolutionary breakthrough by moving about various parts. Although his human friend didn't know it, Phwed had provided the solution. Face Maker was thinking of having his brain running in circles. When the idea congealed into a final form, he wanted to test it out. In complete secrecy. Even from Phwed. So he solved that little problem by hiring Phwed to run security. He needed the glade behide the village. It was hidden from the village's direct view by the foothill. It was a long and relatively gentle slope, free from all trees as it was the path used to sled the felled great garu trees down to the docks every winter. For several weeks, Phwed and a group of qheuen friends had a security perimeter set up every time Face Maker went to the glade. Most of his time was spent in traipsing both up and down the hill. The actual performance of his revolutionary idea took very little time. He was also only trying it out for very short distances. After all of his experimentation was over, Face Maker concluded that his idea would work, but it was also damn jeekee dangerous. Worth risking it though, in Face Maker's opinion. To prove that a g'Kek's universal statement can, in some circumstances, be wrong. He wanted to do it not to stir up any racial hatred, but to give, perhaps, a new understanding and meaning to the human's story. A profound statement that there is more than one way for a being to 'fall asleep.' So when Face Maker was mentally ready, all he had to do was to wait for the next instance of that well known, tired old refrain. And the next time Vebbin mentioned g'Kek racing prowess, Face Maker said "Prove it." That got all four eyestalks turned. "Wanna race me?" "I'll even give you the advantage by racing you from the top of the glade to the flat of the stream bank. All downhill." Everyone knew the sloped glade. An open slope of grass, rocky in places, between the two stands of lesser boo and mixed trees. A well worn path wound its way down the slope, skirting the rocks at times and actually entering the stands of boo at least once on each side. "Think you'll use the boo to help break your speed as you round the corners?" Face Maker asked. "Gonna bounce off of any rocks?" "Possibly. Why do you ask?" "I just wanted it stated that one can use the boo and the rocks as one see fit. And that each being can roll or run as he or she chooses." Vebbin rotated two eyestalks as if they were searching the sky. "To quote a human, 'Well, duh.'" To be auspicious, they both agreed upon holding the race on the next fully overcast day. That was supposed to be in about a week, as the traeki predicted. * * * * * Sage Ur-rhue arrived from Wuphon in less than a week. She had just happened to be in the town when a trade ship arrived. The idea of this race intrigued her. It was worth delaying her return to Mount Guenn. "What are the odds?" she had asked when she'd finally recovered from her trek. "No odds," it was reported to her. "Face Maker does not want anyone making bets. This is to be a race of personal satisfaction between two friends. No one is supposed to take this to any sort of racial level." "Fear of that was one of the reasons I decided to come and be an observer." She met with Face Maker to have a short talk. "I know of the human story of the tortoise and the hare. And though I don't personally know either you or Vebbin, I do know the respective rates of speed for both a g'Kek and a qheuen when traveling downhill. I don't know what you or the both of you have planned. Will Vebbin 'conveniently' fall asleep so that you can both cross the finish line together? That would not be the normal action for a g'Kek to take." "Vebbin will roll with maximum effort. I insisted upon that fact." "Well, you've shown both honor and courage in proposing to race. Vebbin has shown honor in accepting. Perhaps the entire purpose of this race is to see what the g'Kek does while waiting for you to finish, and..." "Excuse me, Sage Ur-rhue, but you are making a false assumption. I am racing to win, and win honestly. I have not explained to anyone at all how I can possibly have any expectations of winning, and I do not wish to do so at this time. Let me just state that Vebbin has agreed to a set of rules, even if she did not realize at that time, the rather unique set of circumstances to those rules." Ur-rhue folded her hands in front of her in human style, and reared back her head to stare at the qheuen with all three eyes. "Very well, you do have something planned. But is it also something that should not cause malace towards anyone if it works?" "In human terms, it should be nothing more that a pie in the face. Not even up to the level of a Drake's Dare burning or dunking." "From originally being mildly interested, you now will have my total undivided attention when the race occurs. Which may be tomorrow or the next day after. Clouds were always behind me as I traveled north to get here." * * * * * * The race, indeed, was the next day. The sky was fully overcast, which was the perfect weather, under jijoian philosophy, for crowds to form out of doors. For such a small village, a goodly number of beings that morning walked, trotted, or rolled up the path to the glade. It avoided the trees and hugged the left side of the small stream until it actually met the glade. The base of the glade was the only place where everyone could gather about to hear the reading of the rules. As Phwed had agreed to be the judge, they were read in Anglic. "Each er can use the trees and the rocks as he or she sees fit; each er can roll or run as he or she chooses." By silent agreement, because Phwed was to be at the finish line, Ur-rhue was one of the much smaller group that chose to follow Vebbin and Face Maker up the hill. Everyone got to rest at the top for a while before Vebbin and Face Maker took their places next to the central rock outcropping. From the bottom, Phwed used a flag to wave that they were ready for the race to begin. An exploser's firecracker signaled the start of the race. The g,Kek naturally started down the path at once. Face Maker, however, surprised everyone there at the top of the hill by _not_ heading down the path. Instead he went as quickly as he could to the near stand of young trees and used his mouth to quickly bring down a type of tree known for its flexibility and strength. The end of the trunk was no thicker than his claw. "I don't know what you are doing," Ur-rhue commented, "but Vebbin has had an eyestalk trained on you ever since she started to roll." "Plenty of time, plenty of time." Face Maker laid the trunk on the ground and then started to chew from one end. Voicing from one of his leg vents as he chewed, he calmly stated, "After doing this over twenty times, I know exactly how long this will take." He quickly chewed one side of the trunk flat, cut off the excess, and then flipped it over. "Vebbin's about a forth of the way down," someone commented. "I think she's now got two eyestalks looking back at us." "No problem." Face maker then chewed seven equally spaced indentations, five interior and one at each end. And also what must have been over a hundred small transverse scores. He then carried his work back to the central rock and leaned it up against it. "First the balance weight," Face Maker said as he picked up with his central mouth a now all to familiar stone.. The stone looked like any other rock except that now that it was in Face Maker's mouth, everyone could see that it came with a projection that ever so conveniently seemed to be exactly the right size for a qheuen's mouth. Facemaker then proceeded to walk up the side of the rock with the two of the carved trunk's indentations neatly fitted into two of his claws. i and grab one end of the boo with two non sequential legs. "Over halfway," again someone commented. Face Maker flexed the wood. Then as the 'rim' started to take a round shape, even the slowest of minds started to catch on. Face Maker rotated his body as he flexed. Finally the last two carved indentations overlapped into his two original leg claws. "Easier to hold; less stress." No one at the bottom of the hill could see to the top of the hill well enough to figure out why the two hoon who had accompanied Face Maker were now bellowing out umbles of laughter. "Two thirds." "Not a problem," Face Maker vented. "She's not taking the direct route." He then used the stone in his mouth to push off from the rock. Someone started to rush up as Face Maker was teetering on edge. "No-o-o! Don't help. That'd be cheating. Face Maker's head and mouth were both moving in and out, until he finally achieved a sort of balance. He flexed his forward legs a bit to bring in the front of the circle, and ever so slowly at first started rolling down the hill. Now a g'Kek travels at a constant speed. Even downhill. Any faster and there'd be a danger of brake burnout, or of overturning when taking corners. But a rolling qheuen gathers momentum. Especially when traveling in a straight line. Face Maker soon couldn't see where he was going. He couldn't rotate his eye fast enough to match the speed of his spin. All of his practice runs were started at a hight at much less than half the length of the full hill. Vebbin actually had the best view. Totally as a matter of good luck, or bad luck as the case may be. For when she reached the last big rock outcropping of the hill, so did Face Maker. He hit the rock in front of the path and flew into the air not more than half a meter over Vebbin's four involuntarily retracting heads. Such an action for a g'Kek also brings on an involuntary braking. She was still in the process of slowing down when she got an eyestalk raised back up enough to see Face Maker's short flight ending with his landing directly on one of his claws. Face Maker continued to roll on, though she could see that the 'wheel' was no longer taut. Vebbin was still trying to gain back momentum when she saw Face Maker reach the bottom of the hill, winning the race 'under the rules that she had agreed upon.' "Each er can use the trees and the rocks as he or she sees fit; each er can roll or run as he or she chooses." "Well I'll be... Hoisted by my own petard and other Anglic euphemisms." Spectators had to scramble out of the way as Face Maker continued his roll through the shallow stream and onto the upslope of the facing hill. But they could see the slackness in the wheel, and the fact that Face Maker was now retracting his head. Slack, slowing, and out of balance, he released the stone finally toppled over. Only then was the rim released from four of his claws. The fifth claw was smashed and reflexively stayed locked onto the wood. Vebbin stopped within one meter of the marked finish line. All eyestalks were now trained onto her friend. "Aren't you going to finish the race?" Face Maker managed to ask, even though in obvious pain. "I'd thought I might spend the night here and finish it tomorrow. In imitation of the human fable, it might be a bit less embarrassing if I had a good sleep before I brought the story to a close." "That wasn't in the rules. You were supposed to go all out." "Well how could I be expected to do that with all sorts of things flying overheads. You won, but at what cost. I don't see how this recreated human story can really have a happy ending." "Oh, end it on a joke by all means. Yes, cutting off a claw will hurt, but it does grow back. Qheuen are naturally slower movers than some other sept. What does it matter that in order for me to become for once the fastest, I had to claw my way to the top." "Or bottom," Vebbin replied. The qheuen not attending to Face Maker's wounds were looking over both the rock and the carved rim. "Well of course the rock is needed," one commented. "Even with all five legs fulled raised, our center of mass is still going to be above the plane of the base of our legs." "But what if we balanced-ed-ed one qheuen against another-other?" Stuttering being a sure sign of excitement. "Two of us holding a log in our mouths would make the log an axle." "Why with enough of us we could make a great cart. We could haul down garu trunks in the middle of summer.." "NO!" was heard to come from two directions at the same time. And the human and the Ur wound up looking directly at each other. Ur-rhue had made it down the hill in time to hear the qheuerns' thoughts. After a moment of silence, Phwed said, "You first." Swithching to Anglic, the sage Ur-rhue lisped, "Haubing bogs down da hisside is da ownbie meaningfub empoiment a hoon has in da dead ob vinter, ven da seas are no bonger sabe." "The same thought I had," Phwed commented. So then at there between the slope and the stream, a sage would up holding a council with the villagers. The Great Peace was too important to jeopardize in any way. There was a challenge; there was a race. There was no winner or loser, and there certainly wasn't either a flying or rolling qheuen. What really happened will be dutifully recorded by Sage Ur-rhoe. But for the good of all, you never really read this..... William Taylor _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
