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he ll go so far as to acknowledge that one cat is striped and the other isn t,
but he ll only acknowledge gross differences.
He rose with an easy arrogance, as if the act of standing proved his point.
People look at me and say, Ah, a Bluesippan! I am forced to say, no, that s
not sufficient. I m Om im Chadeayne, I am myself. He paused, then, I am
different than you are but I
am an individual. I am informed by my culture and my world but I am not
defined by it.
Very true, thought Tocohl, or you would have drawn on John the Smith. But even
that is unlikely to have made an impression on him.
As Om im resumed his post (to all appearances settling himself easily back
into his chair), John the
Smith said, But that s hardly the question here. We re talking about
sprookjes and they aren t He broke off suddenly.
Yes? said Om im, and the Smith looked embarrassed.
You were, perhaps, said Om im, about to add, and they aren t human, were
you not?
Yes, the Smith admitted.
But that s a question we have yet to decide, Om im said. You
see? I m not faulting you in particular, John. It s a language
problem in more ways than one. Assuming the sprookjes have a
language, then we re having trouble with their language and with our own as
well.
Confident now of his ability to retain his audience, Om im paused
to sip his winter-flame, then continued, You call them all sprookjes,
which defines them in a certain way and limits your ability to think about
them. I m not much better: I think of them as John s sprookje, swift-Kalat s
sprookje, and so on.
All right, Om im, but calling them human won t make them human.
True, but calling them nonhuman or inhuman will set limits on our perceptions
of them. Tocohl, you see what I mean?
Perfectly, said Tocohl. You took one look at me and made up your mind that
I fit your image of
Ish shan a legendary giant from Bluesippan folklore, she added for the
benefit of the others around the table, who was known for her ability to
outwit the gods. So, from that moment on, anything I did in your presence
became highly charged: my successes will be more than successes, my failures
will be more than failures. All this through no fault of mine. Being thought
more than human has problems all its own.
Having taken Om im s audience from him, she paused for a sip of winter-flame
before continuing.
When she resumed, it was to say, Take von Zoveel for an example. He named
them sprookjes. To him, they re fairy tale creatures, something from a story
for kids. Surely that affects his image of them.
Hitoshi Dan stabbed the air for attention. Your point is well taken, but what
do you suggest we do?
Shall we call them native humans ? Must we, in order to see them as human?
I don t know what human means, interjected John the Smith, especially
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after Tocohl s story about the Pasicans. Human is itself a highly charged
term!
Human means like me
, Tocohl said.
Human means having art, artifacts, and language, Rav Kejesli corrected
sourly. That s the legal definition.
Which, said Tocohl, smiling, is nothing more than a complex way of saying
like me
.
For a brief moment, Kejesli tried to stare her down, but still smiling, she
met his stare with her own level gaze, and at last he touched the pin of
remembrance. For the moment, I ll grant it, he said.
Touching her pin of high-change in acknowledgment, Tocohl went on,
Convince enough people and I use that term loosely that any given species is
enough like them and they may even find a way to circumvent the legal
definitions. Witness the dolphins. Perhaps it was just wishful thinking on the
part of
Homo sapiens
, but dolphin song was judged an artifact. Personally, I think
Homo sapiens wanted so badly to ally itself with such a graceful, gentle, and
talented species that cheating was the obvious answer. She drew her hands
close about her wrists.
I don t begrudge the cheating, certainly. She smiled. It gained
for
Homo sapiens a greater humanity in that other sense of the word.
Hitoshi Dan smiled wistfully, as if in remembrance. Evidently he d had some
contact with the Gaian dolphins. Perhaps we re using the wrong term, he
said, if it s a language problem. Perhaps sentient or
HILF
would be less loaded?
In GalLing , yes, said Tocohl, but how many of you actually think
in GalLing rather than translating automatically into your homeworld s
tongue? The Yn word for sentient translates literally as
she who speaks. She gestured toward Rav Kejesli: And the Sheveschkem term
means sparked or
enflamed though neither GalLing word quite captures the imagery of the
original.
John the Smith said, but with a slight smile, You have an admirable talent
for confusing the issue, Hellspark.
That wasn t my intention; I meant merely to break down the boundaries to some
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