Notes from An Alien

10 ~ Might

Haalii had no time to devote to anyone but Mura. She called on some of her trusted tools—people who considered themselves friends—to entertain and probe for information from the thousands who clamored after contact with her. She even had to steal some time to train a corps of twenty-four artisans to create weavings for her business. No one noticed that these substitute creations were fakes. People met one of the artisans, spent some time with them, waited while they "consulted" with Haalii, and felt completely entranced with the results. The artisans would never sacrifice the large sums of money to reveal the truth.

Mura was developing a radically new style of dance that one news Mesh reported was related to the dances inspired by Anglana. Mura furiously denied it, saying: "I saw the plasma glows and watched my parents dance. I never felt an urge to taste Anglana and, if you think my dances are anything like what people do when incorporated with that life-form, you're as stupid as my parents."

Even with her new name, Mura was still widely known as Delva and Verluin's daughter.

Haalii didn't need to train Mura in the ways necessary to discredit Delva and Verluin. She only needed to encourage Mura to continue to do what she was prone to do. Haalii did, however, need to spend enormous amounts of time facilitating Mura's connections with the public, setting up performances for her, lining up news coverage, and supplying a slowly rotating entourage of lovers—very carefully chosen lovers.

The fact that the Worlds' economy was structured in a way that favored massive trading between Anga-Param and Anla-Purum yet had to deal with restrictions when it came to trade with Angla-Palli made anything that could be exported from Anglana's planet attain extremely high worth. Even a simple Mesh news item could fetch a higher price if it came from Angla-Palli. Traders living on Anglana's planet quickly adapted to the commerce restrictions and profited greatly from what they were permitted to buy and sell.

A single Mesh broadcast of Mura's dance creations brought nine times the value of a month's worth of food shipments.

Haalii cared little for the money and took only five percent of the proceeds. She did, though, counsel Mura closely about where to invest the other ninety-five percent. Within a few years, Mura owned or had controlling interest in an estimated fifteen percent of all the Worlds' businesses.

Haalii made sure Mura stayed busy and well-bedded. She would instruct her in what to do with her wealth when the moment for Worlds'-wide turmoil came.

~~~

Verluin sat with Delva on the coast of the largest sea on Angla-Palli—the largest concentration of Anglana's consciousness. Delva had just returned from a tour of visits to all the Territorial Councils and had shared what she'd learned with Anglana. Delva's return had also thrown her into prolonged communication with Anglana about Verluin's state of health.

He'd been exposed to certain toxins when he'd been growing up during the harrowing times on Anga-Param. He'd had damage done to his endocrine system and not just from the Corporate implant. The onset of his condition had only become obvious to Anglana and was being dealt with by continual rituals of re-incorporation. Verluin had been attending to the treatments every week during Delva's prolonged absence. Anglana had just told Delva and Verluin that, in spite of her attentions, Verluin had only two years left to live.

Delva used Anglana's presence to communicate with her husband at levels no other could master.

~~~

Excerpts from The Attempted Translation of Delva's Communication With Verluin Concerning The End of His Life:

"Verluin, what of Mura?"