...and at a point in the story when Morn is dreading finally meeting them, because of the possibility of losing her humanity as a result. There's a lot of stress going on in Morn's mind right now, that doggoned much is for certain! Her mind is going from getting ready for being medically handled by the insidiously menacing aliens of forbidden space, to dreading the possibility of being made captive if the Amnion catch Nick cheating them. On top of all that, she is feeling shock from further evidence of corruption within the United Mining Companies Police.
Morn Hyland and Nick Succorso are hanging onto straps while floating in near-zero gravity as Captain's Fancy ceases internal spin. As their docking port connects with Enablement Station, gravity is restored, and Morn and Nick are soon listening to Mikka Vasaczk's voice (via their Extra Vehicular Activity suit radios) relaying that the ship remains powered up even as it has secured docking with Enablement Station. Mikka warns that the Amnion won't like Captain's Fancy remaining powered up while fully docked to their station. But, she adds that being powered-up is the only way to hold the threat of self-destruction over Enablement to force a hasty departure.Morn's identity was already under attack. Even without mutation, her understanding of her self and her life was being altered; force-grown to a different shape.
Nick had an immunity drug for the Amnion mutagens.
It had been given to him by Hashi Lebwohl--it belonged to the UMCP.
And the UMCP had withheld it from humankind. The cops, her people, had left all human space naked to alien absorption, when they had the means to effectively end the threat.
What kind of people did such things? What kind of men and women had she and her father committed themselves to?
Vector Shaheed was right. The UMCP is the most corrupt organization there is.
How could she have been so wrong? How could her father and her whole family have been so wrong?
Very quickly, the mechanical voice of an Amnioni "decisive" insisting on drive shutdown comes through the communications systems, giving the reason of dock integrity being otherwise threatened. Nick tells the alien leader (through Mikka) that Captain's Fancy must stay powered up to maintain support systems because of having sustained storage cell damage. The Amnioni returns that Enablement will supply power to the ship, as drive power shutdown is required when docked. Nick responds that conversion parameters are too complex, and that they wish a prompt departure.
"Ain't that the truth," Mikka muttered as she complied [in sending Nick's message to the Amnion].
She relayed the answer when it came.
"Enablement Station to presumed human Captain Nick Succorso." Nick mimicked the words with a sneer as the voice spoke. "Amnion defensives Tranquil Hegemony and Calm Horizons are ordered to exact compensatory damage for any breach of dock integrity."
"Acknowledge that," Nick instructed Mikka. "Remind them we have a deal. 'Conformity of purpose will be achieved through the mutual satisfaction of requirements.' Point out we have every reason to protect their interests as long as they protect ours."
That response took a little longer. Then Mikka said again, "Done."
Nick flashed a grin like a glare at Morn. "'Compensatory damage,' my ass. Those bastards haven't seen a 'breach of dock integrity' until they see us self-destruct. There won't be anything left of those fucking warships except particle noise."
Or of us, Morn thought. But she didn't speak. Bit by bit, the zone implant reduced her to a state of dissociated calm, in which numbness and panic coexisted side by side.
There are a number of different repair tools on the EVA suits that Morn and Nick remove because the Amnion could consider such tools as weapons. In addition, Nick's suit has an impact pistol which he removes and leaves behind in the locker. Enablement sends another transmission saying Nick and Morn will be permitted to enter, and that they will be lead to a medical facility suitable for birthing. The Amnion decisive's voice states that Nick will be required to donate a deciliter of his blood before Morn's fetus will be birthed and force-grown. Then once the offspring is matured, the alien voice promises, both Nick and Morn will be returned to Captain's Fancy.
Nick checks with Mikka who tells him his voice is being clearly heard throughout the ship. Nick tells Scorz, his communications second, to record everything he and the Amnion say to each other. Then he instructs Mikka to try to take the ship out of being docked at Enablement and take off if the Amnion start jamming communications. Nick indicates he and Morn are ready to go onto Enablement, and in now-sealed EVA suits he and Morn walk through the just-opened airlock into an alien-controlled environment in a fairly large room in Enablement.
Morn's zone implant has succeeded in giving her a calm exterior. Nevertheless, inside she is queasy right down to her very corpuscles by looking at Amnion technology that appears grown and mutated rather than manufactured. Deep inside, Morn is anxious that what will be done with her son is unnatural enough to rob him of having a personality of his own. Her body is still capable of movement, but only in a deliberate but unhurried way.Stumbling between fear and calm, as if she were going mutely insane, Morn let Nick lead her forward.
In the station airlock, they crossed a scanning grid that looked more like a tangle of vines than a technological apparatus. She and Nick were tested for weapons and contaminants, then let pass.
She moved as if she were wading through mire. Every step took her closer to the Amnion and horror.
She wished she could blame her faceplate for the way they looked to her; but she knew she couldn't. Polarization and plexulose weren't responsible for the terror which her heart pumped instead of blood--a terror thickened to sludge by her zone implant. The guards were hominoid in the sense that they had arms and legs, fingers and toes, heads and torsos, eyes and mouths; but there all resemblance to Homo sapiens ended. Their racial identity was a function of RNA and DNA, not of species-specific genetic codes. They played with their shapes the way humans played with fashion, sometimes for utility, sometimes for adornment.
They wore no clothing: they had developed a protective crust, as rough as rust, which made garments irrelevant. Keen teeth like a lamprey's lined their mouths. Their viscid eyes--four of them spaced around their heads for omnidirectional vision--didn't need to blink. Both Amnion were bipedal: however, one of them had four arms, two sprouting from each side; the other had three, one at each shoulder, one in the center of its torso. Their strangeness made them loom like giants, although they were only a little larger than Nick or Morn.
Draped from their shoulders were bandoliers supporting unfamiliar weapons.
Both of them wore what appeared to be headsets. That made sense. Translation was a complex process, and probably wouldn't be entrusted to guards in any case; so all communication would be patched between the authorities on Enablement and Captain's Fancy. This was confirmed when the alien voice came over Morn's earphones, although neither guard had spoken.
"Presumed human Captain Nick Succorso, you are accepted on Enablement Station. You will be escorted to the birthing environment."
One Amnioni gestured toward a transport sled parked out in the dock.
"Let's go," Nick said.
The way the guards moved their heads suggested that they could hear him.
Morn felt another piece of her reality detach itself and slip away. In this place, nothing was fixed; all nightmares became possible.
Light fell like sulfur from hot pools in the ceiling. She stared around her as if she were fascinated; but all she wanted was to avoid focusing her eyes on her guards.
But inside, she continues to worry her son may be denied a human personality and viewpoint as a result of being force-grown. And also deep inside, under all that zone implant-induced tranquility, Morn continues to be rocked with dismay over her discovery of UMCP corruption. Outwardly, however, she simply moves when Nick leads her by the arm, as they make their way to an organic-looking Amnion transport sled. The two of them sit in the middle row of the sled with a guard in front of them and a guard in back of them, and then the sled starts to move forward through a hallway. Black strips reach out from the floor to guide the sled like rails. Morn feels she must release her inner anxiety, and she does so by announcing to Nick (and thus to the Amnion authorities as well as the crew of Captain's Fancy) that she wants to name her son after her father Davies. Nick tells her he doesn't care and to shut up. Morn feels relief that she expressed that thought and now feels more comfortable being under the zone implant's spell. The sled seems to follow a trail like a helix downward into the station's interior. And then one of my favorite Forbidden Knowledge moments happens. I've used this passage as the basis for a Gap Quiz question which has "farce" as the answer: "What word did the Amnion of Enablement Station insist on being translated for them before they would give Nick what he wanted?"
The damp yellow light was more intense here. It played and gleamed across Morn's EVA suit like a decontamination beam burning away undetectable microorganisms; burning away reality; at last burning away fear. Somewhere deep within her, she surrendered slowly to the zone implant.
Nick's voice was abrupt in her ears. "Where are you taking us? I don't like being this far from my ship."
Both guards looked at him. From the earphones, Enablement's mechanical voice said, "Conformity of purpose will be achieved through the mutual satisfaction of requirements. Your requirements necessitate a suitable birthing environment."
He growled a curse under his breath, then insisted harshly, "Delay doesn't conform to your purpose or mine."
"Time," came the reply, "is not accessible to manipulation."
As if out of nowhere, Vector Shaheed asked amiably, "Is that philosophy or physics?"
Morn began to relax more completely.
"Goddamn it--" Nick began.
"Vector!" snapped Mikka, "I told you to be quiet." A moment later she added, "Sorry about that, Nick."
"Oh, hell," Nick retorted, "let's all talk at once. If we're going to turn this into a farce, we might as well go all the way."
For a moment the earphones went silent. Then the alien voice inquired, "Presumed human Captain Nick Succorso, what is 'farce'? Translation is lacking."
Nick's fingers dug into Morn's arm. "Ask me later," he rasped. "If I like the way you conduct this trade, I'll give you 'farce' as a gift."
"Presumed human Captain Nick Succorso," countered the voice immediately, "you claim humanity. Therefore you claim enmity to the Amnion. Also your identity doesn't conform to known reality. That also constitutes enmity to the Amnion. Understanding is necessary for trade. What is 'farce?'"
Before Nick could reply, Vector spoke again. "'Farce' is a form of play in which humans make themselves ridiculous for the amusement of other humans. Its purpose is to reduce tension and provide community of feeling."
Clenching his free fist and Morn's arm, Nick waited. The sled ran fifty meters down the hall before the voice answered, "Translation is acceptable."
After a long pause, he said, "All right, Vector. I'll call us even this time. But don't try me again."
No one from Captain's Fancy responded.
I like the irreverent levity of Vector's question in the middle of this unsettling feeling of Morn and Nick being swallowed into the alien station. It decreases the tension for me as a reader (just a touch), though it obviously doesn't decrease the tension for Nick as a character.