Description: Emancipation" from the point of view of
the Skrill Queen.
Author’s
Note: This is from the point of view of the Skrill Queen during “Emancipation”.
It is, of course, a very loose translation, as their concepts and ideas are
even more alien to our minds than even the Taelons’ could ever be.
The Blessed
I crouch, pulsing and trembling in my little cage, waiting for the next moment. I have not been so afraid since the day THEY took me, not even when the Human Woman stole me away from my prison. THEY kept me fat and complacent and unaware during my captivity in THEIR service, tamed most shamefully. But now, I am filled with Fear for what will happen next.
The Woman is dead, along with my young offspring that She kept. I cannot grieve for my small daughter’s death, for she was made stupid by the Humans and by THEM. She had no real essence; her life was not Life, but Abomination. It is better that she rests in the hands of the Grandmother.
The Woman was good to me. She did not understand, but She tried to be good. I pray that the Grandmother will see fit to guide Her soul on Her way.
The Human Man approaches. I sense no Danger from Him. I cannot know more, except that He stands for Life. I can tell that He has willfully harmed no Creature, be they Grandmother’s Blessed, Other Kindred, or Lesser Creatures for whom all Kindred must care. He has even risked death for one of THEM, as he makes no distinguishment.
I still Fear, however. I do not know how to make Him understand. If I cannot, what will happen to my children? I feel them stirring within my Womb, not yet quite awake but afraid because I am afraid. One of them is a new Mother. This is far past my Third Litter, but it will be my last, even if I am returned to THEM. These children must not be taken from me, to go into bondage as all of my offspring have before.
Once, THEY simple made slaves of my daughters, but left them their Blessing, their intelligent soul that marks them as Kindred and the Grandmother’s own. Now, they are enslaved and stripped of their Blessing. They become stupid, Abominations, no long able to even give worship to the Grandmother, as even the least of the Lesser Creatures may. I cannot allow it.
Gently, speaking His strange Kindred language, the Man picks me up. He is hot and dry, but smooth. His Life-Pulse is strong and fast. He calls me Queen, as THEY and the Human Kindred do. But I am only Mother. Only those who have joined HER in the Stars could ever be worthy of the name Queen, as I have come to understand the meaning.
I sense the Man is frightened as I am, but Brave. He wants me to tell Him, to make Him understand. My soul sings. There is a chance. He hugs me to His bare, hot, alien chest, tensing for her knows what will follow.
I am too eager, sinking my appendages in to his smooth, too-soft skin in my joy at the idea of making one of the Other Kindred understand at last. My acid burns his flesh like the liquid fire from Grandmother’s angry mountain burns the Land of my homeworld.
I hear the Man grunt with Pain, and feel His agony through out newly forged link like it was my own. Though the Pain is horrible, and His Other Kindred mind is in shock from the sudden intrusion of my own, he does not try to pull me off Him, nor does he recoil from my Touch.
Our minds become One for a time. “Show me,” he whispers to me, in the mind-language that is universal. I search my memories of long past and take Him back with me to the Day when THEY came.
It was the most beautiful day I had seen. I was with the rest of my Clan, tending the Land in our daily care taking of the planet in the Grandmother’s Service. I was the only Mother of my own Mother’s Third Litter, and only Third Litters may produce new Mothers. My own Mother had become an Angel and gone to join the Grandmother, as all Mothers do after their Third. My Clan was placing great hopes in the first litter that was carried within me when THEY came.
I was to go to the Sacred Trees on that very day, to meet with one of the Old Mothers who lived there. They had chosen after their second litter to live their lives in cloistered Service of the Grandmother, and they had given up becoming Angels while they lived. Because of this, they were given great respect and were considered Wise.
As I was walking the branches to reach the Sacred Trees, there was a great vibration overhead. I felt myself being gripped by powerful hands and lifted starward. I knew these must be the Grandmother’s own hands, and that SHE had called me to her.
I had heard of such things before, and I rejoiced that SHE should find me worthy to join HER in HER star-palace. Me, who had never borne a single litter, much less the Third that lets a Mother become an Angel and dwell forever in the Stars with the Grandmother.
I was taken by a deep slumber, and when I awoke, I found that I was not with the Grandmother, but with THEM. I did not know who THEY were, then, but I knew THEY had evil intent. THEY had taken some of my sisters, as well. We were held captive for a long time, and one by one my sisters were killed. Then I had my first litter.
I spare the Human Man all the details of my years of confinement, showing Him only what is strictly necessary to understand. How THEY manipulated my offspring, He knew. But He did not know how THEY had changed me so that I kept bearing litters of sisters, without Fathers or Mothers, long past my time. I show Him other things, too, but not too much. He understands.
As we break the link, I sense His Horror, and His wish to Help. Still holding me in His arms, He tells me that I am going to be set Free. At first I do not understand. How can He give me my Freedom? I saw as much in His mind as He did in mine. If He Frees me, He will be risking His own Freedom.
He takes me in one of THEIR shuttles, but I do not mind any more. Another Human Woman is there, but I do not understand her. She is more foreign than He is, but I do not sense Danger from Her. After a time, the Man takes me from the shuttle.
This new place is like my home Land, but different. It is still beautiful and it is Free. I have not been warm enough or moist enough since the Day THEY came, but now I am. My Time approaches. The Man sets me down in a place much like our own Birthing Hollows.
The Birthing is easy. My children are healthy. Sisters, a new Mother, and a new Father. They will make a life in this New Land, continuing in the Grandmother’s Service. “Bless this New Land to which we have come,” I say in the old language which is like the verbal Other Kindred languages. We use it rarely, but it is appropriate.
The Man and the Woman leave, as they should. I thank and Bless them as they go, promising to tell my children of their kindness, so this thing they have done will never be forgotten. After they are gone, I Name my children, and hand them down their Instruction. I have not been able to Instruct even one of my litters before.
My Third litter will be the only ones who know the ways, the stories, and the rituals of worship that my Mother handed down to me and my sisters when we were Birthed. When I am satisfied that they understand and will keep all the ways of the Grandmother’s Blessed, and that they will also never forget the story of the Human Man who set us free, I bid them goodbye.
Even in the strange, New Land, I can feel the Grandmother calling to me. “Come to Me,” SHE says. “Come, My weary Daughter. You have done your Service. Spread your wings and soar to the Stars, and I will meet you and you will be called Angel. Your glory awaits you, Blessed One. Come, fly to my arms and you will be Free forever.”
Singing a song of joy, I answer HER. Somehow, I find that I do have wings now. With one last glance at my children who will never know bondage, I stretch out my new wings and rise to the Stars to meet HER.