The Sparrow

djanada to be a sort of bogeyman, used to keep children from wandering off. We took it as further evidence that, except for Mr. Quinn, we were not considered adults by the Runa for quite some time.'

'Father Yarbrough reported that when you first saw Supaari VaGayjur, you assumed he was a Runao. Are the two species so similar as that? Or was it only because you were not expecting a second species?' Voelker asked.

'Initially, it was because we were unprepared to imagine that the Jana'ata existed. There were many subtle differences, once we knew what to look for. However, male Jana'ata do resemble female Runa in overall appearance and in size.'

'How odd! Only the males?' Felipe asked.

'Female Jana'ata are sequestered and guarded. I cannot say how closely they resemble the Runa, male or female. The Runa sexes,' Sandoz reminded them, 'are quite alike, but the males are on average a good deal smaller. For a long time, we were confused about their gender because of that and because their sex roles did not match our expectations. Robichaux's Madonna and Child, by the way, should perhaps be renamed Saint Joseph and Child. Manuzhai was a male.' There was a small burst of laughter and comment as the others admitted how surprised they'd been when they'd read this in the mission reports. 'Manuzhai raised Askama and was smaller than his wife,' Sandoz continued, 'so we believed him female. Chaypas traveled extensively and carried on all the trade, which led us to assume that she was a male. The Runa were equally confused by us.'

'If the Runa don't wear much besides ribbons,' John said, clearing his throat, 'couldn't you, um, see—?'

'Runa sexual organs are inconspicuous unless mating is imminent,' Sandoz said and continued blandly, 'Along with the dentition and claws, this is one unmistakable difference between male Jana'ata and Runa of either sex. It was not immediately apparent because Jana'ata are generally clothed.'

Edward Behr, sitting as usual across the room from Sandoz, suddenly had a coughing fit. It was, the Father General thought, as though Emilio were testing his own strength, seeing how far back into the pit he could go. 'We are to infer that male Jana'ata organs are not inconspicuous. Are you trying to shock us, Father Sandoz?' Vincenzo Giuliani asked in a light, bored voice, which he hoped was convincing.

'I wouldn't presume to know what would shock you, sir. I was explaining the limits of the similarity between the species.'

'This Supaari VaGayjur,' Johannes Voelker said, 'he owned the village of Kashan?'

Giuliani looked up. Now who's changing the subject? he thought.

'No. Well, perhaps, in a manner of speaking. He did not actually own the real estate or the Runa villagers.' Sandoz shook his head, more certain as he thought it through. 'No. My understanding was that he owned the rights to trade with them. If they were dissatisfied, the VaKashani could have solicited another merchant to buy Supaari out, although he would have been given an opportunity to adjust his agreements with the VaKashani to address their concerns. It was in many ways an equitable contractual arrangement.'

'How were the Runa paid?' Felipe asked suddenly. 'The descriptions of their village seem to indicate that they were not terribly materialistic.'

'They obtained manufactured goods in payment for blossom harvesting. Perfumes, boats, ceramics, ribbons and so forth. And there was a system of banking in which profits were accumulated. The income from any given village was pooled. I don't know how they handled things when a family moved from one village to another.' Sandoz stopped, apparently struck by the problem for the first time. 'I suppose that if a certain village were known to have a large account and if others moved in to benefit from the situation, a lot of hearts would become porai and the freeloaders would be made to feel embarrassed.'

'Who enforced the contracts between the Runa and merchants like Supaari?' Giuliani asked.

'The Jana'ata government. There is a hereditary bureaucracy run by second-born sons that sees to the legal aspects of trade and there are special courts for interspecies disputes. The judgments are enforced by the military police, who are first-born Jana'ata.'

'And the Runa do all the productive work,' John guessed, disgusted.

'Yes. Third-born merchants like Supaari VaGayjur broker trade between the species. Merchants, like Runa village corporations, are taxed to support the Jana'ata population.'

'Do the Runa obtain justice in Jana'ata courts?' Felipe asked.

'I had limited opportunity to observe such things. I was told that the Jana'ata value honor and justice highly. They believe themselves to be stewards and guardians of the Runa. They take pride in doing their duty toward their inferiors and dependents.' He sat quietly for quite a while and then added, 'For the most part. In addition, it should be noted that the Jana'ata comprise only three to four percent of the VaRakhati population. If their rule were to become odious, the Runa could conceivably rise against them.'

'But the Runa are nonviolent,' Felipe Reyes said. He had developed a mental model of the Runa as peaceful innocents living in Eden, at odds with the reports from the Contact Consortium. This, for Felipe, was one of the overriding puzzles of the mission.

'I have seen the Runa defend their children.' There was a pause; Giuliani saw the tension, but Sandoz went on. 'From what I have read in the Wu and Isley report, there are Runa who have reached their limit of tolerance. Their only weapon would be their numbers. Jana'ata military police are ruthless. They have to be. They are vastly outnumbered.'

This was virgin territory, Giuliani realized. 'Emilio, you may recall that Supaari VaGayjur reportedly told Wu and Isley that there had never been trouble between the Jana'ata and the Runa before our mission arrived.'

'Supaari may have been pleased to think so. The Runa do not write histories.' Sandoz stopped to drink again. He looked up, brows raised, eyes dispassionate. 'I speak only from analogy, gentlemen. There were no Taino or Arawak or Carib historians, but there was certainly conflict in the Caribbean. Both before and after the arrival of Columbus.'

Voelker broke the silence that fell at that, returning to his earlier theme. 'Surely it is unusual for two species to resemble each other so closely. Are they related biologically as well as culturally?'

'Dr. Edwards was able to obtain blood samples for genetic analysis. The two species were almost certainly not related, except distantly, as mammals like lions and zebra are related. She and Father Robichaux thought the similarities might be due to convergence: a natural selection in the evolution of sentience that led the two species to similar morphological and behavioral traits. I think not.' He stopped and looked to Giuliani, a scholar whom he expected to understand why he was uncomfortable. 'You understand that I speculate, yes? And this is not my field, but—'

'Of course.'

Sandoz stood and walked to the windows. 'The Jana'ata are carnivores, with a dentition and forelimb adapted for killing. Their intelligence and capacity for complex social organization probably evolved in the context of cooperative hunting. The Runa are vegetarians with a broad range of diet. Their fine motor control likely derived from manipulative skill associated with the exploitation of small seeds, picking blossoms and so forth. Their three- dimensional memories are excellent; they carry very precise mental maps of their environment and the changing array of seasonal resources. This may account for the evolution of their intelligence, but only in part.' Sandoz stopped and stared out the window for a few moments. Beginning to tire, Edward Behr thought, but doing well. 'The paleontology of our own planet has many examples of predators and prey locked in competition, ratcheting upward in intelligence and sophisticated adaptation. A biological arms race, one might say. On Rakhat, in my opinion, this competition resulted in the evolution of two sentient species.'

'Are you saying that the Runa were the prey?' John asked, horrified.

Sandoz turned, face composed. 'Of course. I believe that Jana'ata morphology is a form of mimicry, selected for during predation on Runa herds. Even now, Runa prefer to travel in large groups, with the smaller males and young in the center of the troop and the larger adult females on the outside. A hundred, two hundred thousand years ago, the resemblance between the two species was not nearly so striking, perhaps. But Jana'ata who could best blend in with the female Runa at the edges of the herd were the most successful hunters. The Jana'ata foot is prehensile.' Sandoz paused, and again Giuliani saw the effort it took to go on. 'I imagine the hunters simply fell in step with a female toward the back of the troop, reached out to snare her ankle, and brought her down. The more closely the hunter resembled the prey in appearance and behavior and scent, the more successfully he could stalk and kill her.'