The one where her husband had worked.
The one that had been empty at the time of the explosion.
Ineeded more information. This Vision raised too many questions to be leftunanswered.
Istood up and moved one IP away from her.
“Whathappened after that?” I said, my classical Senthien tone back.
“Youmake me feel like I am at a trial.” She smiled, then stood up and continuedwalking.
“Atrial of what?” I followed her.
“Nevermind, Dora, I will explain it to you later,” she said. Then she paused for amoment to gather her thoughts.
“Mychildren and I were devastated. None of us had a grip on reality anymore. Thatwas probably my fault.” She looked away. “If I’d been stronger, my kids wouldhave managed better.
“Atany rate, we decided to cryo-preserve, hoping time would heal the wounds… Unfortunately,this wasn’t the case.”
Andagain, she had that sad smile on her face.
“Beingfrozen for more than five thousand years turned out to be just a blink of aneye. When we de-froze, I was still suffering the same way as before the sleep.”
Shetook a few moments before she continued.
“Ithink, however, that the shock of finding out what had happened to us forced meto recover faster. There were so many other things to worry and think about, Ifinally managed to stand on my feet again.
“Andthen, a few months ago, we started getting Jumpers. Humans. From Uni,” she continued.“You would not believe what a blow it was to find out what had happened to theEarth. About the News, the Evacuation, and the solar storms.” She raised hereyebrows, shaking her head as she looked at the ground. “And—aboutDescendants. And what they did to humanity.”
“Iam sorry for that, Tania,” I said and lowered my gaze.
“Itseems to be in the fabric of our beings, doesn’t it? People have always foundsomeone to abuse, someone to discriminate against. It was probably inevitable.The only question was who would get which end.”
Theblack hooded figure of the High Zlathar Priest appeared in my mind. It wasn’t aVision. It was a very tangible fear of what he would do if he knew there were originalHumans on Old Earth.
Butthe electromagnetic and radio silence of this world made it invisible to theuniverse.
Aftera few passes we reached the pool. She stopped a few IPs away from the water’sedge and handed me the towel. “I’ll stay here. Don’t do any diving likeyesterday—nothing interesting to see down there.”
“Diving?”A new word needed explanation.
“Sightseeingunder the water…?” Tania raised her eyebrows and smiled.
“No…I will omit it. This time,” I said.
Shelaughed sweetly. “Good, you are learning! There’s some Human in you after all.”
Iwas going back to my cottage, careful not to miss theturns I took on the way there.
Onone bridge, a few people were walking my way. They moved to one side, stilldeep in their conversation. I squeezed my fists, clenched my jaws, and bracedmyself as several people brushed past my arm.
“Youare the Senthien?” I heard a female voice right next to me. I opened my eyesand looked at the last woman in the group.
Shewas way too close. I stepped backward until I had one clear IP between us.
ThenI started breathing again.
Nowthat I had some space, I could focus better on them. They were all Jumpers, andthey looked familiar. And then I recognized the person who was talking to me: Ihad seen her at the Boolean Institute. She was the Human woman I’d seen in thecorridor, the first one in line.
“Isaw you a few days ago,” she said, obviously thinking the same.
“Yes.”I nodded. “I remember you. What were you doing there? Zamnan Second told methat they did not have any Humans in their institute.”
Shesmiled a thin smile. “I guess he lied.”
Therest of the group quietly laughed, and I realized that all of these women musthave been at the Boolean Institute too, though I never clearly saw the others.
“Whyare you here?” said a person to the left of the woman I talked to.
“Ihad been on my port to the Zlathar planet, and there was an error in theporting coordinates. I got ported here.”
“Allporters that came here were Humans, Senthien,”said the person on the right. “You don’t belong here.”
“TheMind made an error in the porting procedure. I had not planned to come here,” Isaid in a very calm and neutral Senthien voice.
“Goback to where you belong!” said a woman in the back, and the others echoedtheir agreement. “This is our world.”
Ilooked at this group of women and for the first time understood how the malice theDescendants felt for Uni Humans had affected them. I wanted to respond, but Iwas distracted by footsteps approaching from behind.
Iturned and saw J walking toward us. My heart skipped a beat, but my expressionremained aloof. He stopped between me and the women, makingsure he was one IP away.
“Isthere a problem?” He raised his eyebrows.
“No,there is no problem, J,” said the woman in front. Then she looked at me andsaid, “We were just saying that Earth is for Humans.”
“Andnot Descendants!” called out the woman in the back.
“Well,Andrea, Julie”—he nodded toward them as he said their names—“the OldEarth Humans welcome everybody who ports to Earth and brings no harm. Thatincludes Descendants. And the new Humans had better remember that.”
Whilestill looking at the women, he said, “Dora, there is something I would like todiscuss with you.” He then turned toward me. “Would you please walk with me?”
Inodded.
Hewalked past them, and I quickly followed. We crossed two bridges before heasked, “Are you okay?”
“Yes,J, I am fine. What would you like to discuss with me?”
Hestopped for a moment to look at me and then grinned. “That was just an excuseto get you out.”
“Getme out?”
“Fromthe ladies with the pitchforks.”
Ifrowned, not understanding at all what he was talking about.
“So,what’s this issue about, anyway?” he said.
“Humansare treated badly in Uni. This is simply their response to Descendants ingeneral.”
Heshook his head slightly. “That’s a very mature way to look at it. I think theirattitude, although justified, would get me pissed.”
“Wouldget you what?”
“Pissed,”he said and continued walking.
“Ido not understand.”
“Uh,the word? It means
