Ranh Read online

  The Mars equivalent was far larger than it should be, it was closer to the Earth than it should be, and it too had plate tectonics. It too had fixed much of its carbon dioxide, so it was a cooler planet on the whole than Earth, perhaps not unlike what the Earth had been like during its ice ages. It also had a lot more water than would be expected, however, because so much water was locked up in gigantic ice caps, there was somewhat less sea than there might have been, and the lowlands near the equator were quite temperate.

  There was life on each planet, and because each planet had life with the same DNA origin, the only possible conclusion was that it had been transplanted to at least two of them, and since the DNA was compatible with Earth's life, the only reasonable conclusion was that life had been transferred from Earth to all three. By whom, and for what purpose, were completely unknown. The transfer appeared to have occurred immediately prior to the great extinction on Earth at the end of the Cretaceous period. The two inner planets appeared to have been populated with sauroids and plants from Earth, while the outer one, being colder, seemed to have been populated mainly by mammals. It was also possible that each had been seeded equally, but what was present now reflected what was optimum in terms of evolutionary prospects for each planet. One school of thought was that the transfer was one gigantic experiment.

  The inner planet appeared to have been locked into the late Cretaceous, and evolutionary development had been relatively moderate. The climate and the vegetation appeared to be ideal for dinosaurs, and they had continued more or less unchanged, except for an even greater tendency towards gigantism, presumably as a consequence of the gravity being only 73% that of Earth. Perhaps because it was cooler, mammals had been preferred on the third planet, and there was a considerable diversity. However, the cooler temperatures appeared to partially stunt the vegetation, with a consequence that the mammals had never evolved to anything much larger than a small horse, and the largest predator was leopard sized.

  It was the middle planet that was more interesting. Similar stock appeared to have been placed on the major continents, but not unsurprisingly, they had evolved differently. However, there were surprises that were best explained in terms of initial genetic tampering. Raptors with rather short necks appeared to have been introduced initially into rather unsuitable terrain, where they had to hunt prey that had been adapted to rock climbing. Hunting was difficult, but somewhere along the line they found that they could enhance their chances by throwing rocks, and intelligence evolved.

  On a third continent, for reasons not at all understood other than in terms of tampering, a two-legged plant-eater, somewhat like a mini-iguanodon, also developed intelligence, and eventually developed technology. Accordingly there were two technical species on the planet, and it appeared that, presumably due to the tampering, the plant eaters developed it first. They made some sort of deal by which the carnivores left them to their continent, and they left the raptors alone.

  "I wonder why the carnivores didn't eat the plant-eaters?" Natasha asked. "One might have expected wars, etc, with such incompatible species."

  "It appears the vegetarians had the technical advantage," Gaius said, "but the records are a little unclear on this matter."

  "And contact with them is not permitted?" Natasha asked.

  "Not by the Ranhynn, however Ulse has contacted them, and we have to opportunity to do so as well. However, care is needed, because our doing so might thoroughly annoy the Ranhynn," Gaius replied. "Again, that is something for later. Marcellus, please continue."

  The mammals on the third planet had apparently failed to develop intelligence, and possibly because of a lack of suitable trees, nothing like primates had developed. Instead, evolution had concentrated on developing smaller fiercer hunters and faster prey. For the present purposes, only Ranh, the middle planet was of importance.

  Science there had developed approximately five million years ago, and by now had ossified. However, at the time when evolutionary theory was being developed and expounded, an unusual effect had occurred. The usual debate between religion and science had terminated when one young priest noted that the evolutionary theory made no sense. It was agreed that fossils could be found that indicated the life forms had changed, but they had not evolved from anything fundamental, and the fossil record completely stopped approximately 70 million earth years previously. This caused a strange compromise between science and religion: their 'bible' was effectively correct, but the time was wrong. The Ranhynn themselves might not have been 'created', but their very distant ancestors had been, and the creation time in the ancient texts just happened to be wrong by about four orders of magnitude.

  The net result of this was that science and religion became deeply entwined, and governance had developed in terms of what the Ranhynn termed "logical theocracy". The highest level of governance was what would be referred to as The Great Conclave, which was a meeting of the Cardinals. The analogy with Earth's Catholic Church was not all that close, but these titles would be used because the Ranhyn terms were unpronounceable, and therefore meaningless. Senior administrators were appointed on merit, and politicians, administrators, or significant leaders had to carry out extensive training in logic, science and what would be called humanities on Earth. Theocratic governance ruled every aspect of Ranhyn life, and there were strict procedures for just about every action a Ranhyn could take.

  There was one central "capital" city, Tukhranh, that was a diplomatic and business centre for space travellers, and this was the one city where strict religious procedures did not apply. This was the one city where non-Ranhynn could visit the planet, and where even the Ranhynn did not follow many of the 'procedural' rules. While there were many rules that still had to be obeyed, the 'punishment' for an alien not following them was the requirement that they be informed about what they should have done. In general, 'aliens' were requested not to visit any of the other cities. If someone did, all religious rules should be strictly followed. If it were necessary for anyone in the party to carry out such visits, the ships would monitor progress, and advise on procedures.

  "Sorry to interrupt again," Natasha said, "but is the other civilization a theocracy?"

  "As far as we can tell, no," Marcellus offered, then he continued.

  Strictly speaking, this party would be considered as diplomats, and as such would have diplomatic immunity outside Tukhranh. This immunity would apply to the authorities, but it should not be relied on. There were clear requests for aliens not to venture outside the city of Tukhranh, and the Ranhynn frequently asserted they did not have a need to maintain significant numbers of police on the planet as a whole. The religious leaders essentially controlled the population, and these religious leaders would show little interest in aliens who did not follow their request. It was not clear why these conditions were imposed, but they were, and since the object of this exercise was to create good relations, irritating the Ranhynn and deliberately violating their religious sensitivities would be a poor way to start.

  Gaius' diplomatic status would be unusual because nominally Ulse maintained an embassy on Ranh, but this was currently unfilled. An ambassador and party had been sent from Ulse just before the Plotkyn ultimatum, but it was unclear what happened to them.

  "They would have arrived before the news of what happened at Plotk," Lucilla noted. "Given the nature of the ultimatum, we can assume there was a rather unpleasant surprise awaiting them."

  "Yes, but the news of the outcome would have come about four to six months later," Marcellus said.

  "If they lasted that long," Lucilla said.

  "We don't know what happened to them," Gaius said, "and up to a point, it is probably unproductive to ask. We have one task, and that is to secure the treaty. If that happens, everything else should be forgotten, at least by us."

  "Ulse mightn't agree," Lucilla said.

  "No, but by the time they find out about it, it will be too late to do anything about it. Remember, whatever it was, it was probabl
y at least twenty-five years ago, and we can't do much about it either."

  What it all meant, Marcellus explained, was that the embassy building remained the property of Ulse, and Gaius could claim to be the equivalent of an Ulsian ambassador, as he was the most senior representative of Ulse on the planet.

  "The only representative?" Lucilla asked.

  "Correct," Marcellus said.

  "Accordingly, I can use the embassy building," Gaius said, "but it is probably not a good idea for you two to do so. We don't want these treaty negotiations to start looking like an Ulsian imposition, so I suggest those who go down stay in hotels. That will include me," he added, as he anticipated a comment from Natasha.

  "Hotel rooms probably won't be as secure," Natasha mentioned. "We should assume the Ranhynn would try to sneak a look at any information we have."

  "Our companions can stop that sort of thing," Gaius assured her. "Now, let's hear Marcellus with the rest of his background information."

  As would become apparent once they went down to the planet, the Ranhynn were somewhat secretive towards outsiders, and in detail their form of government was such that it was difficult to know where ultimate authority lay. There were specific words for each of the various institutions but for the present the following approximate translations would be used. The government appeared to have the following structure, with words chosen as those closest to Terran equivalents, although "closest" was often not very close.

  All Ranhynn had a basic set of rights, and followed a basic set of laws, and these largely related to ordinary living. If they wished to do so, any young Ranhyn could request adoption into a family at a level consistent with their status prior to adoption, where they would work on the family activity, and by making extra contributions they gained additional benefits. Thus the family did not necessarily follow bloodlines, although most of the influential in a family were usually blood related.

  The family status and the status within a family were important because Ranhyn society was run effectively on a caste system. Those at the bottom were the unacknowledged, they had one name only, and they had to submit to all the other castes, which were designated by the number of names, which increased to four, then declined again, in practice to two, although the original founders of a family only had one name.

  "How can you tell whether they are a high two-namer or a low one?" Natasha asked.

  "There is a hierarchy of rings and bangles. The lower ones tend to be plastic, except for the unacknowledged, who don't have any."

  The higher the status, the more aggressive they seemed to be, Marcellus told them. A Ranhyn had to accept any insult from a higher caste, but an insult from an equal caste member could result in a tooth and claw duel, while an insult from a lower caste member was justification to kill such a member, if the Ranhyn so insulted were capable of it. The shedding of blood was not that uncommon, and in certain situations it was permitted by law, and in other situations, blood sport was a great spectator activity. Accordingly, once down on Ranh, visitors should exercise reasonable care not to initiate such duels, but if they were attacked and they killed the attacker, the general attitude would be, tough luck; if they could not defeat a mammal, they deserved whatever was dished up to them.

  "What happens if an unacknowledged one kills a higher caste member?" Natasha asked.

  "Depends on why," Marcellus said. "If they were defending their right to carry out orders or requests for a higher caste member, then it is considered the higher caste member did it. This is a good thing particularly for the unacknowledged, because bullying them can end up with the bullies facing some of the more vicious higher ranking ones. Anyway, back to their society."

  Families were associated with one of the thirty Curiae, and each Curia sent two high priests to a Consistory, which ratified decisions of the Curia where they interacted with other Curiae. Finally, above that was the Conclave. The basic function of the Conclave was to make the very senior religious appointments, and to make definitive statements on religious matters. These religious matters mainly affected how Ranhynn lived, however they also discussed any issue of morality, and that included the decision to go to war. As the supreme body on Ranh, or at least the raptor part, they also met when there was significant disagreement in the Consistory, and in such circumstances their word was final, at least as far as Ranh was concerned. It was unclear how the vegetarian continent was governed. Ulsians had contacted the Xanex, which is what they called themselves, and when a treaty was offered, the Xanex signed it almost immediately. This totally surprised the Ulsians. The initial treaty document offered to a new race usually started with the requirement that the new race should be left alone to develop independently. New races almost inevitably demand special rights, or technology, or something, but all the Xanex required was that the Ranhynn not be given any Ulsian technology that might be used against them. Their position was, if the Ranhynn were to be given special technology, they might use it against the Xanex. When Ulsians told them they would not give the Ranhynn anything, the Xanex could not be held back from signing.

  Each of the Curiae was responsible for a specific aspect of governance, and they could be considered similar to government departments. Thus one Curia was responsible for the health and medical services available to the Ranhynn. All doctors came from that Curia, although if a Ranhyn from outside the Curia wished to become a doctor, a family transfer could be arranged on passing the medical qualifications. Thus the Curia was responsible not only for providing health services, but for medical research, medical policy, and all religious matters related to health. One could be a doctor without specific religious rank, but only a priest could manage a hospital. On the other hand, the priestly ranks were more concerned with administrative ability, rank in terms of command, or standing in society than specific theological insight.

  On the other hand, the Conclave was almost completely dominated by the equivalent of Cardinals, or Ayatollahs. The governing of the planet operated in detail through the Curiae. Most such decisions never left the Curiae, but where they influenced other Curiae the matter would be referred to the Consistory. If the matter could be resolved there, it was. The Conclave was for resolution of last resort, on the grounds that religion must prevail where rational discussion had failed. If the Ranhynn did not want religious involvement, then they should settle their debates rationally.

  The route to becoming a Cardinal was interesting, in that all Cardinals had at one time been either a Tenzat, which roughly translates as Chief Priest, Administrator and leader of the Curia, or of sufficient rank to have been a representative of a Curia at the Consistory for an uninterrupted period of five years.

  All of which was relevant because there was one Curia that controlled all aspects of space travel, space technology, and extraplanetary relations. Since space did not impinge on any other Ranhyn activity, this Curia did not usually have to take other Curiae into consideration, except for the military Curia. The main family in the Space Curia was the family Kuyrill, and contact had already been made with both Kuyrill Hadell and Kuyrill Kazyn on Earth, both of whom were leading members of this family. Many Curiae had a great number of families, but the Space Curia was unusual in that it had only six families.

  Prior to leaving Ranh, Hadell had been the Tenzat of the Space Curia. Such a position was usually reached by one of two routes: undisputed nomination, where the key members voted unanimously, or by vote where there was a dispute. Such a vote was held publicly, usually following a formal challenge, with any qualified family member having the right to vote. Campaigns were strictly limited to accounts of the candidate's previous performances, and any specific future policy goals. Direct attack on another Ranhyn without specific evidence was forbidden, although questions could be asked, and must be answered fully and truthfully. Failure to be fully open led to automatic disgrace and replacement if any Ranhyn could provide evidence. Once the election was called, which usually happened within one week of a direct challenge, each can
didate made a single speech outlining why they should be nominated, each speech being recorded prior to delivery so that neither candidate was aware of what the other's contained. There were then three weeks for the family to make up their minds, then the election was called. Up to the second last day of this three-week period, the candidates could not make speeches, nor say anything to promote themselves, nor were they permitted to attack any opponent. On the second last day, either candidate could call for a debate. The debate was not mandatory, and if declined each candidate was permitted to make a public statement relating to the need, or otherwise, for it.

  That, at least, was what was supposed to happen. Usually a challenge did not eventuate unless the challenger had carried out significant lobbying, or other more underhand activities. A formal challenge without some reason to believe the votes would be cast favourably was very unusual, and then usually happened only when one candidate offered an option that had clearly different consequences to the then current policy. Here the object was not to win or lose, but rather to register the position. In such a situation, if the subsequent outcome proved the challenger to have taken the correct position, the incumbent, and most of his or her supporters could be simply removed by orders of the Great Conclave, and replaced by the challenger and his or her supporters. This type of challenge was rare, but many in a comfortable position feared it because it meant that they could be forced to take a position that they may not wish to take. It forced them to think, and back their decision with their careers.