'Zaratorio: The Story Continues' is a political parable dedicated in general to everyone who believes in #PeaceinUkraine and who says #NoToWar. More specifically, it is written in support of the brave and generous women and men of Medecins Sans Fro...
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Catherine the lute player is a trobairitz - in other words a female troubadour, from medieval France - and she has suddenly found herself in the Control Room at the SISP headquarters in modern-day Kyiv.
Anton Koval has the presence of mind to reprogramme his universal translation software as he steps away from his computer terminal.
'Not much call for Occitan in the twenty-first century, I'm afraid, but I think you just asked me how you got here?'
Catherine nods, and she is reassured to see several smiling faces.
'To be honest, we don't know, but we think that it is due to an unexpected anomaly in our system. We are time travellers – and you are now several hundred years into your own future!'
The software is probably working reasonably well, although Catherine only replies by humming a tune and strumming her lute.
'Shock?' ventures Lauren.
'Of a kind' replies Holopath, the emissary of a 24th century civilisation.
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'She may not actually be able to see everything in this room, because she has no frame of reference to place it in. Something similar frequently happens when we make first contact with other species.'
***
Bjorn is feeling a little tired. An unusual experience for a P-Vanir, a species who normally enjoy superhuman levels of energy. On the other hand, his three female companions seem to be rather content with life, even though all three of them are many centuries away from their home times.
Only Anna is slightly perturbed, given that she thought she saw a woman of colour in the village market earlier in the day.
'Surely it could not be Circe? Only Zaratorio could have sent her here, as her own powers are nothing like strong enough for her to reach the seventeenth century unaided!'
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***
Amber Jessop makes her way to the Control Hall with her usual measured step, but in reality she is seething as she sits down next to her deputy.
'Excuse me, Anton. Why is that young woman here at all, and why is she singing what I take to be Occitanian folk songs, accompanied by that confounded lute?'
'She appears to be the result of a chrono-incident of some kind. We have never accidentally transferred someone several hundred years out of their own time before, and so I am still checking the logs to find out what has happened.'
'But you never thought to use the confinement facility? For all we know, she might be Circe, or some other biotemp, in another guise!'
'No. Circe's chrono-signature has been reliably tracked in the part of the time vortex that corresponds to Ukraine in the early modern period, so I think we can rule that out ...'
'Except that we can never know for sure what Zaratorio may be doing next.'
Amber taps her fingers angrily and makes a decision.
