The clips showed the rest of the military technology, which wasn’t much different from what my own world was capable of; an odd coincidence considering the vast disparities in timescale. It appeared that the Rulers were a highly conservative lot and by mutual agreement had restricted the development of more devastating weapons which might threaten their own existence; that wasn’t in their interests at all. They played war in much the same way that humans played chess, with the only blood shed being that of the purposely-bred warriors. They had even defined specific areas for battles to take place, away from any risk of damaging their economic interests. There were armoured vehicles armed with beam weapons of various types to disable the soldiers and each other. Sea battles were not fought – there was speculation that it was because the economic cost of losing ships would have been too high – and military aviation was strictly controlled, being used only for reconnaissance and troop transport. Their records showed that this lesson had been learned in an earlier age, when some Rulers had been killed by air attack. Now, the Rulers kept well away from the battlefields. Any attempt on the part of one country to use combat aircraft or develop more advanced weapons would attract an attack by the combined might of the others. As it was, there was a constantly shifting pattern of alliances between the countries; diplomacy and warfare seemed to be the primary pastime of the Rulers, who otherwise had little to do, their societies were so tightly controlled.
One other detail of the S2 society intrigued me. ‘Primo, some of them are eating meat!’
‘Err yes, that’s right. We used to be omnivorous too, but it was really the development of mind-linking which changed our habits. It’s difficult to eat an animal after you’ve become sensitive to its emotions. Although I have to say that the S2 Rulers seem to take a positive delight in rearing and slaughtering their animals; they have a rather barbaric society in some ways.’
‘Yep, it all seems very familiar. Rather like the Middle Ages on my Earth, only with more advanced tech. You’re going to have a real problem trying to persuade that society to change. Not only will the Rulers be very happy with things the way they are, there is no tradition of the other groups participating in government.’
‘We realise that. But we feel that we have a moral obligation to try.’
Having decided to act, the saurians got on with it, setting up the exchange for a few days later. Their initial contact had been with the Primary of the co-ordinating body – their Council of Rulers. This post rotated around the national Rulers via a pre-set pattern, and had no real power other than to call and chair meetings of the Council. As with the S1 Assembly, the Council met only occasionally, in their case to resolve disputes. The Primary had responded to the initial contact by calling together the Council; a delay of a few days ensued while they gathered together. The S1 Assembly site was farmland in S2, not far from the capital of one of their countries, so their Council set up a temporary encampment ready for the first physical exchange. A slider machine had been set up in the middle of an open space on the edge of Laketown, a kind of bowl-shaped arena created by piling up earthen banks and turfing them – used for communal events such as concerts, Primo explained. The Assembly members gathered on the slopes. I was at the back, along with my three friends. Other visitors included their academic experts on S2. It was a fine spring morning, the air freshened by a breeze, cumulus clouds marching across the sky. I looked at the machine, a pair of tall blue boxes on either side of a thick ring, standing on end, within which the two-metre diameter hole would be created. The boxes were covered with ventilation slots, and a thick power cable ran from the machine out of the arena.
A thought occurred to me. ‘Do they know about me? About the human worlds?’
‘No. We thought that it was better to move one step at a time.’
The moment arrived. The Assembly Ambassador, a male (out of diplomatic deference to the sensibilities of the S2 Rulers) stood in front of the slider machine. Holographic viewscreens around the arena showed the view on S2. There was no arena there, but a temporary low platform had been erected around the equivalent space. Interestingly, the weather was different; it was a grey day, with a gentle drizzle. Several thousand years of different levels of saurian activity had obviously had an effect. The S2 Rulers looked rather different from the people of S1; apart from the fact that they were all male, their bodies were covered by loose, colourful clothing. Primo mentally whispered that they apparently only stripped off to display their skin patterns among family and close friends. Another way for them to conceal their reactions, I realised.
The whine of the slider machine started climbing up the scale. After a few seconds, with a slight crackle, the hole appeared simultaneously on both worlds. I was standing in line with the front of the hole, and could see the S2 Representative through it. He was much taller than the S2 people, bigger even than I, and would have to stoop to get through the hole. As agreed, the S1 Ambassador began to step through first – but what happened next was not planned. A brief flash of raw agony ripped through our minds, before he collapsed on the earth of S2. A collective mental gasp swept around the arena, and the S2 Representative crouched over the stricken Ambassador. There was a tense pause as he examined the unconscious saurian, deploying his healing skills. After a few moments of concentrated attention, the Ambassador began to revive. He was clearly groggy and nauseous, not really aware of what was going on.
Primo turned to me in alarm. ‘What did you experience when you stepped through the hole?’
‘A moment’s nausea, but nothing like this.’
There was an intense blur of communications around the arena, too fast and complex for me to follow. The Convenor stepped forwards and addressed the S2 Council via her headnet; it seemed that mental transmissions could not pass directly through the slider hole. She had to use slower and simpler communications with the S2 Rulers, so that although I didn’t understand the language she was thinking in I was able to absorb her regret and concern. The S2 Primary had also stepped forwards, and for the first time I received mental transmissions from an S2 saurian, as they were relayed around the arena. His mind was hard and cold, tightly controlled, revealing nothing beyond what he intended. After a brief exchange, the hole flicked out of existence and the slider machine started to power down. A translation by one of the visiting experts was passed to me; both sides had agreed to suspend the exchange until they could determine what had happened to the unfortunate Ambassador.
The Assembly meeting to debate the problem was held on the spot, and I was invited to give my views. As the only person who had so far stepped through the slider machine without collapsing, I tried to describe the sensation I had experienced. Thinking back on it and analysing the memory, there had been a moment of intense disorientation which had caused my nausea. There had also been a blurred flash of light as I stepped through, but that was all I could recall. There was one thing that puzzled me, though.
‘When I had my original accident, when your scientists tried to contact me, didn’t one of them pass through the machine to put the repair patch on me and take a biopsy?’