Psychoprompt (part 15)
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Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
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8th April 2258
09:33 G.M.T. +1
Mayan and I walk down a busy street in Geneva, which has somehow become Earth's capital. How it beat New York or Brussels I don't know, but I can see 'Earth Dome' from here. There are a few aliens around, mostly embassy staff, but virtually the entire population is human.
And anyone interested in our location could work it out from the way sound stops when they see Mayan.
I think. I mean, it could be me but there isn't anything about me that would cause me to stand out. Other than her, there aren't any minbari on the street. In fact, I don't think there's actually a minbari embassy on the planet. The centauri and narns each have an embassy, as well as several species from the League of Non-Aligned worlds. I'm not… Actually sure what the split in responsibilities between embassies here and the ones on Babylon 5 is… I suppose that the ones here handle direct communication with the Alliance's government? And help their citizens negotiate Earth civilisation?
"Do you think maybe it would have been a better idea to wait a generation?"
"Someone must be the first to extend a hand."
I frown. "Are minbari like centauri, where you don't have major blood vessels in your wrists?"
"We are not."
"Then don't extend anything you're not going to get back."
She looks around slightly nervously. "I had thought that the reception here would be… Better."
"A-." I frown hard at me. "Why?"
"Because the war is over, and has been over for ten years."
"You know humans can live for a hundred years, right? Ten years is definitely not a lifetime. I doubt that anyone here has had an interaction with a minbari that wasn't shooting at them."
She draws herself up slightly. "The I will be the first."
"Okay, so how about we ease into-"
She turns hard left and walks into a café.
"-it gradually-?"
I dash after her, the door barely having the chance to ring closed. A sound I can hear very easily, because the Zone of Silence has followed us from the street and is now spreading across the café as the occupants look up to find out why everyone's stopped making noise.
Okay, we're near the centre of the capital. This is an expensive place to live, so I doubt that she's about to out me by needing me to defend her from a mob.
Perhaps she would learn something from the experience.
And you wouldn't enjoy it at all, Kral'nag?
I would enjoy it immensely. But it would be better to be shattered into a thousand pieces rather than forced to live in the vorlon's crystal stasis. There were minbari who saw it our way.
Mayan is still standing there, just taking in the glares. I think she's genuinely surprised, though I'm not at all sure why. I walk up to her, smile and nod at the audience, grab her around the waist and lever her into a nearby chair.
She stares at me in shock as I sit down opposite her, and then looks down and wriggles herself to defray stress.
I lean a little closer. "Sorry if that violates propriety-"
Her head comes back up. "Yes. It did."
"-but you were making yourself a target. And I really hope that you have a better plan than this."
"Yes, I have reached out to human writers at the University of Zurich. I will be holding a seminar in two days." I wince. "I did not think that the response to my presence would be so widespread."
"So, you know how well the narns and centauri get along?"
"The minbari never occupied human worlds."
"And the centauri never actually tried to exterminate the narns. Now, I wasn't here for that whole thing so I'm not as emotionally invested in it as they are, but you must understand where they're coming from."
"But how can our peoples know peace if we cannot talk to each other?"
I smile.
"Are you familiar with the human concept of a Catch Twenty-Two situation?"
"I.. am not."
"In the novel 'Catch Twenty-Two', the protagonist wants to stop flying bombing missions, so he feigns mental incapacity in the hope that he'll be removed from the duty. The problem is that his commanders are perfectly aware that no sane person would want to fly those missions. Therefore, if he's mad, he's perfectly qualified, and if he's sane, they've got no reason to remove him anyway."
Her brow hardens as she tries to make sense of that.
"That makes no sense."
I nod. "Yes. In this situation, it would be… We want peace. To get peace, we need to talk to people. Until we are at peace, we cannot talk. Therefore..."
Her brow smoothes. "We will never have peace."
I grin, sitting back and throw my arms up. "Bingo!"
"I cannot accept that."
"Then this will either be a learning experience, or a comedy experience. Though since someone is going to ask… It doesn't matter to me, you understand, but-."
"Ten years ago I was poet in residence at the Thanan monastery. I considered the war with your people to be regrettable-." I wince, and she stops. "Did I misspeak?"
"If that's genuinely how you felt about it, no. You're still speaking a minbari language, right?"
"No, I am speaking English. Is that not the main human language?"
"Sometimes it's better if people can't understand you. Ah. For future reference, most humans consider 'regrettable' to be an insufficient adjective for the extermination of any species, especially ours. We don't even really like that the dilgar got wiped out, and we were the ones who wiped them out!"
She stare at me in incomprehension.
"Seriously, check out our discussion forums. The prevailing view is that while their entire leadership class deserved to get fed feet-first in to a wood chipper, most of their people didn't really have any decision-making power and if evacuating them had been at all practical we should have done it."
"Then what should I have done?"
"Anti-war poetry and music are fairly common in human society. Siegfried Sassoon is the poet who comes immediately to mind, but my poetry studies stopped at sixteen. Public protests against government actions are also common. If you could honestly say that you'd made some noise and been imprisoned or otherwise punished, you'd find that the crowd would warm up considerably. 'Oh dear, oh well' will not go down well."
She makes a… Sort of shaking, neck-snaking gesture. "Minbari do not protest our government."
"Yes, I know, strict hierarchy, need to know and obedience. And… To a degree, in some circumstances, humans would accept that for a soldier. But not for a poet."
"I do not believe-"
The door chime rings, and I glance around.
Black uniform, Psi Corps insignia.
Looking at me.
09:33 G.M.T. +1
Mayan and I walk down a busy street in Geneva, which has somehow become Earth's capital. How it beat New York or Brussels I don't know, but I can see 'Earth Dome' from here. There are a few aliens around, mostly embassy staff, but virtually the entire population is human.
And anyone interested in our location could work it out from the way sound stops when they see Mayan.
I think. I mean, it could be me but there isn't anything about me that would cause me to stand out. Other than her, there aren't any minbari on the street. In fact, I don't think there's actually a minbari embassy on the planet. The centauri and narns each have an embassy, as well as several species from the League of Non-Aligned worlds. I'm not… Actually sure what the split in responsibilities between embassies here and the ones on Babylon 5 is… I suppose that the ones here handle direct communication with the Alliance's government? And help their citizens negotiate Earth civilisation?
"Do you think maybe it would have been a better idea to wait a generation?"
"Someone must be the first to extend a hand."
I frown. "Are minbari like centauri, where you don't have major blood vessels in your wrists?"
"We are not."
"Then don't extend anything you're not going to get back."
She looks around slightly nervously. "I had thought that the reception here would be… Better."
"A-." I frown hard at me. "Why?"
"Because the war is over, and has been over for ten years."
"You know humans can live for a hundred years, right? Ten years is definitely not a lifetime. I doubt that anyone here has had an interaction with a minbari that wasn't shooting at them."
She draws herself up slightly. "The I will be the first."
"Okay, so how about we ease into-"
She turns hard left and walks into a café.
"-it gradually-?"
I dash after her, the door barely having the chance to ring closed. A sound I can hear very easily, because the Zone of Silence has followed us from the street and is now spreading across the café as the occupants look up to find out why everyone's stopped making noise.
Okay, we're near the centre of the capital. This is an expensive place to live, so I doubt that she's about to out me by needing me to defend her from a mob.
Perhaps she would learn something from the experience.
And you wouldn't enjoy it at all, Kral'nag?
I would enjoy it immensely. But it would be better to be shattered into a thousand pieces rather than forced to live in the vorlon's crystal stasis. There were minbari who saw it our way.
Mayan is still standing there, just taking in the glares. I think she's genuinely surprised, though I'm not at all sure why. I walk up to her, smile and nod at the audience, grab her around the waist and lever her into a nearby chair.
She stares at me in shock as I sit down opposite her, and then looks down and wriggles herself to defray stress.
I lean a little closer. "Sorry if that violates propriety-"
Her head comes back up. "Yes. It did."
"-but you were making yourself a target. And I really hope that you have a better plan than this."
"Yes, I have reached out to human writers at the University of Zurich. I will be holding a seminar in two days." I wince. "I did not think that the response to my presence would be so widespread."
"So, you know how well the narns and centauri get along?"
"The minbari never occupied human worlds."
"And the centauri never actually tried to exterminate the narns. Now, I wasn't here for that whole thing so I'm not as emotionally invested in it as they are, but you must understand where they're coming from."
"But how can our peoples know peace if we cannot talk to each other?"
I smile.
"Are you familiar with the human concept of a Catch Twenty-Two situation?"
"I.. am not."
"In the novel 'Catch Twenty-Two', the protagonist wants to stop flying bombing missions, so he feigns mental incapacity in the hope that he'll be removed from the duty. The problem is that his commanders are perfectly aware that no sane person would want to fly those missions. Therefore, if he's mad, he's perfectly qualified, and if he's sane, they've got no reason to remove him anyway."
Her brow hardens as she tries to make sense of that.
"That makes no sense."
I nod. "Yes. In this situation, it would be… We want peace. To get peace, we need to talk to people. Until we are at peace, we cannot talk. Therefore..."
Her brow smoothes. "We will never have peace."
I grin, sitting back and throw my arms up. "Bingo!"
"I cannot accept that."
"Then this will either be a learning experience, or a comedy experience. Though since someone is going to ask… It doesn't matter to me, you understand, but-."
"Ten years ago I was poet in residence at the Thanan monastery. I considered the war with your people to be regrettable-." I wince, and she stops. "Did I misspeak?"
"If that's genuinely how you felt about it, no. You're still speaking a minbari language, right?"
"No, I am speaking English. Is that not the main human language?"
"Sometimes it's better if people can't understand you. Ah. For future reference, most humans consider 'regrettable' to be an insufficient adjective for the extermination of any species, especially ours. We don't even really like that the dilgar got wiped out, and we were the ones who wiped them out!"
She stare at me in incomprehension.
"Seriously, check out our discussion forums. The prevailing view is that while their entire leadership class deserved to get fed feet-first in to a wood chipper, most of their people didn't really have any decision-making power and if evacuating them had been at all practical we should have done it."
"Then what should I have done?"
"Anti-war poetry and music are fairly common in human society. Siegfried Sassoon is the poet who comes immediately to mind, but my poetry studies stopped at sixteen. Public protests against government actions are also common. If you could honestly say that you'd made some noise and been imprisoned or otherwise punished, you'd find that the crowd would warm up considerably. 'Oh dear, oh well' will not go down well."
She makes a… Sort of shaking, neck-snaking gesture. "Minbari do not protest our government."
"Yes, I know, strict hierarchy, need to know and obedience. And… To a degree, in some circumstances, humans would accept that for a soldier. But not for a poet."
"I do not believe-"
The door chime rings, and I glance around.
Black uniform, Psi Corps insignia.
Looking at me.
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