The Helianx Proposition/page 57

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Commentary


A strong affinity clearly existed between the extraterrestrial visitors from Sirius and some of Noe's cetacean friends. Certain tribes of dolphins had long sung of the epic journeys their forebears had taken to a water planet in the Sirius system as proof of kinship. Some of these extraterrestrial Nommo had even chosen to stay for longer periods, developing small colonies in the waters around isolated islands in the southern ocean.

The arrival of the Nommo must have acted as a signal to other aliens, because it seemed to Noe that the planet had suddenly become of intense interest to a steady stream of off-world visitors. Most came and made some brief exploratory trips before slipping away in their silver ships. Others must have found something they valued, because they would stay longer, setting up encampments in the most inaccessible regions. Noe was amused to observe a small group hailing from a planet they called ltibi-Ra, who had settled in the jungles of one of the southern continents and were cultivating a particularly toothsome fruit. This they would then harvest and send back to their planet as a much-valued delicacy. Yet other extraterrestrials must have found something of more significant value, because they started elaborate mining operations in one of the vast southern continents.

Nee watched all this from a distance, cautiously sending out a telepathic tendril every once in a while to check the progress and intentions of the various different groups. Most of them respected the noninterference policy of the local universe authorities, and made sure to camouflage their activities from the indigenous natives. In the unlikely event that their labors were exposed, it was a simple matter to terrify the already-fearful locals with a little technological sleight-of-hand and a casual show of power.

There were other groups, more aggressive by nature, who would argue later in MA's civil courts that since the planet was deemed experimental, they could justify their involvement as part of that experiment. But, as Noe had observed with horror, one of these groups had gone so far as to tamper with the genetic make-up of some of the bipeds, and had then enslaved them to work in their gold mines. Surely, sHe thought, this went way beyond any level of contact that could be considered permissible and yet it appeared to be allowed to continue. Although sHe was appalled at the brutal enslavement, sHe also found hirself encouraged that nothing had been done by the authorities to immediately halt the genetic experimentation. After all, hir own presence on the planet might well be considered illegal under a strict reading of the law and who knew how MA would ultimately rule on hir business on this improbable world.

In the briefing, the computers had impressed on Noe that what sHe was being required to accomplish would probably be seen by some at MA as being in violation of one of the most fundamental directives of the nonintervention policy. But, they had assured hir with a barely concealed electronic chuckle, if sHe managed to remain undetected until sHe had completed hir mission, then there was not much that MA could do about it, was there?

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