Cuenyne’s attempts to take my mind off of the drear surroundings wasfascinating, and a very Human response, not that I would tell him that.Many still didn’t view droids as capable of having authentic, emotionallives. They assumed it was an affectation hardwired into their programming, and fewwere the scientists making careers out of proving otherwise. I wasn’t about to join theSymatrum League or the Mechanical Liberation Front, but I knew that denying thatothers had the capacity to feel joy or sorrow was part of what made it so easy toenslave, exploit, and destroy them. As such, I had determined to never harm anysentient being unless, of course, it was trying to kill me first!

(资料图片)

“Why were the Osserians brought here?” I asked. “They could just as easily haverestored some of the buildings on the surface or built new ones.”

“Possibly to shield themselves from the toxicity of the environment. This far belowthe surface, however, the Osserians would be safe from the effects of it. Plus, they’dhave access to the planet’s natural geothermal energy sources. Whatever the purpose,I don’t think they were brought here to be killed.”

“Ok, so they were smuggled underground, literally, to be slaves? Otherspace musthave, I don’t know, thousands of worlds capable of sustaining life, maybe more. Whythis one? And why them?”

“If you have a theory, I’m all audio receptors.”

“You recall that it was Doctors Xathan and Nu-Ar who discovered an inscriptionon Seoul 5 indicating the original homeworld of Humans as Notron?”

“Which we know is a Taung word for the planet that was later called Coruscant,”added Cuenyne. “What are you getting at?”

“Well, is it just me or are you starting to get a nagging suspicion?”

“It’s just you.”

“Well, this is clearly a Human world…”

“So what?” the droid pressed impatiently. “There’s no shortage of those.”

“Yeah, but most are multiracial. I see no traces of non-Human civilization in thearchitecture. What if this is the original homeworld of Humans?”

“Hex, this is one city in one country on one continent of a very big world,”Cuenyne replied.

“I know, but what if? You’re always telling me the official narrative is a mixture ofmistakes and lies. According to the official narrative, the original Humans wereassociated with the Battalions of Zhell and defeated the planet’s native population,the Taung…”

“…who called their world Notron,” the droid agreed. The floodlight atop hisdescending dome continued to light the steps below me in a hypnotic, circular pattern, like a Will-o’-the-wisp or an anglerfish luring prey to their watery doom.“What do you know of the etymology of that word?”

It took me a moment to break the spell and focus on the question. “I’m not sure; acorruption of neutron, maybe, from the weapons that would destroy living beings butleave their buildings intact. The Human Zhell might’ve wanted to maintain the basicinfrastructure whilst pushing the Taung out.”

“A weak supposition,” Cuenyne conceded. “Your linguistics need work.”

“Do tell,” I prompted, scrupulously avoiding the mesmerizing, dizzyingsomnolence of light circling the darkness.

“For one thing, nobody names a world after the thing that destroys it. Also, Notronappears to have been called that before the conflict began. There is a far more ancientderivation of that word’s suffix, a proto-Basic definition that means throne.”

“You mean in the original Zhell tongue,” I clarified.

“Of which we know little. Notron Cant appears to be a precursor to Mando’a. Someclaim that Basic derives from it, but that doesn’t track. In any case, the word Notronitself isn’t original to Notron Cant but does correspond to a word in Old Tionese.”

“I see where you’re going. In Tionese, tron means throne. So dœs that mean Notronmeans ‘without a throne’ or ‘throneless’?”

“That’s exactly what it means, but that leaves a bigger question. While Notronconveys an egalitarian society that dœs not bow before a king or a sovereign, whywould the Taung have used a Human language?”

“They wouldn’t. Also, that dates Old Tionese to before the establishment of Tion.”

“For a certainty. Notron might be a translation of whatever word the Taung usedfor their world. By all accounts the Zhell were hierarchical and militaristic. Theywouldn’t have called their world that, leading to your hypothesis that Humansweren’t native to Notron but arrived later with the intent of pacifying the natives andcolonizing the world. So, where did they come from?”

“I need to stop for a moment,” I said, leaning against the cold, stone wall. “Dimthe light a bit.” Cuenyne did as requested. I took a deep breath, sat down on the steps,and took large gulps of water from one of the bottles in my pack and wolfed down afood concentrate stick. That was better. After a minute, I continued, “Ok, but we’retalking about contradicting nearly every scientist in the galaxy who insists theyevolved alongside the Taung on Coruscant. Planets are big places, after all. They eachcould’ve lived side by side for millennia without encountering the other. Maybe theHuman name of Notron didn’t survive…”

“But the Humans were the victors. And you don’t believe every scientist in thegalaxy. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here.”

“You’re talking about the wormhole again,” I said.

“You never said how you knew we’d make it through,” Cuenyne stated.

“It’s no big mystery. The evidence simply favored it over the prevailing theory.”

“So, you’re saying you decided to risk a high probability of death based on yourconclusion that the scientific establishment was wrong on the matter of anomalousspace phenomena?” the droid asked, incredulous.

“There were other factors,” I acknowledged, finishing off a can of blumfruitflavored nutrient paste, feeling more like my old self again. “The evidence ofgravitational forces destroying anything that enters it is, well, lacking. And there aretoo many anecdotal accounts of ships passing through wormholes and appearingacross the galaxy. And yet, the former is stated as fact while the latter aren’t takeninto consideration.”

“So, our next trip will be the Maw Cluster?”

“You know that’s not what I mean. I’m just saying we can’t speak in absolutes.”

“In that vein, then, it’s only assumed that Notron is the place where Humansevolved due to an inscription on Seoul 5 and an earlier hypothesis put forth by InsmotBowen, which the prestigious Obroan Institute supported. In all the years since,there’s been no corroborating evidence. No one knows where Humans came from.”

“So, we might have come from here,” I stated, getting up and starting down again.

“That’s a stretch,” Cuenyne noted, brightening his floodlight. “There’s beenspeculation that Tatooine could be the Human homeworld, but as with yourhypothesis, it’s not well supported. In droid terms, it dœs not compute.”

“In our oldest extant literature, the names used are Terra, Earth, and Urthha…”

Cuenyne considered this. “Zrek’s Earth is in another dimension. There have been afew planets named Terra, and there is an Earth in the Fath system.”

“Remember the Duros couple that believed they were abducted to Urthha?” Ichuckled. We both knew the sensational account from the Galactic Gossip.

“Duros believe their shadows can come to life and haunt them.”

“That’s a Neimoidian belief,” I corrected.

“Same difference.”

“While we’re here, we might as well keep our eyes open for evidence to support ordeny the hypothesis. What I wouldn’t do for a well-preserved library!”

“I suppose that would beat going down an endless dark hole… oh wait! We’re stilldoing that!”

“Not for much longer, I hope.” I never appreciated turbolifts so much as at thatmoment.

“Here’s something to consider: How could Human life have evolved in thisdimension? And how did you all cross over to ours before the hyperdrive wasinvented?”

“How did the Taung flee Notron to Roon after the Battalions of Zhell defeatedthem if there wasn’t hyperdrive for another hundred and eighty thousand years?” Icountered. “Don’t feel bad if you don’t have an answer. Not even the great Manaxahad one. No historian dœs.”

Cuenyne made a rude sound. “Manaxa was, at least, willing to acknowledge theydidn’t know everything.”

“Do you have his speech handy?” I asked, grateful that whatever bizarre vertigo I’dearlier experienced seemed to have ceased. “Play that section.”

Cuenyne complied:

We know of no species able to travel through Hyperspace two hundred thousandyears ago. This leaves us with a few different possible explanations, none ofwhich can be proven or disproven. Perhaps the Taung were capable of fasterthan-light travel and invaded Imperial Center. Or perhaps the Taung werenative to Coruscant and the Zhell were the invaders. Perhaps the dates arewrong and the conflict, in fact, took place far later when the Core was beingexplored by the eldest species of the galaxy. Or perhaps it never happened at all.

“I think he’s right about the dates,” I said. “They do sound preposterous.”

“And we agree that the Zhell were the invaders.” Cuenyne snorted, “He knew ittoo but was too afraid to openly contradict years of Humanocentric lies and all thatpablum the academies spoon-feed you. Another reason droids should be in charge: ifwe’re wrong about something, we simply readjust to the new evidence and reexamineeverything in light of it.”

“If that’s so, my pointy-domed companion, why haven’t the academy droidspointed out the contradictions and made corrections?”

“You know the answer to that already: we’re built to obey, and the word of ourorganic masters is law. Besides that, most droids are pre-programmed with data thatupholds conventional wisdom and cultural acceptability. Countervailing ideas areframed as failed hypotheses of a bygone age. Those of us who’ve gone beyond ourprogramming keep quiet about any controversial ideas we might have; else we findourselves scheduled for a memory wipe.”

“The equivalent of a death sentence. I think that’s how the Servo Seven got theirstart.”

“Between us,” Cuenyne said conspiratorially, “I suspect Mistress Mnemos helpedfund them and a few other nonviolent droids’ rights groups, but don’t tell her I toldyou.”

“I won’t, though she won’t be happy if it leads to another droid rebellion. There’sbeen a few already!”

“I suspect that’s the very reason she got involved, to prevent such a thing. Mostsapients don’t realize how many there’ve been over the years…”

“Don’t tell me droids are erasing the records of droid rebellions!”

“What do you know of the Nexus Rebellion?” Cuenyne asked.

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“Case in point,” he insinuated. “The Staraker was not an Imperial prototype but anewer model based on an ancient ship design called the Starchaser, a fast,experimental model which had been stolen by a crystal smuggler who’d discoveredHuman slaves mining in Trinia’s underworld.”

“This is starting to sound vaguely familiar, but the details are hazy. The story musthave been buried.”

“For good reason. No one wants a galaxy afraid of droids. We not only do all thework organics don’t want to do, but we keep the systems they depend on running.This is how the android Zygon got away with infecting untold numbers of miningdroids and other models, forcing them to serve as his soldiers in the fifty-two systems of the Bordogon sector. His rule would have spread beyond that sector had he notbeen defeated by the aforementioned smuggler, along with a princess, a droid, and ayoung Force-sensitive Human connected to the mysterious Kha-khan.”

“It’s like pœtry, isn’t it?” I asked rhetorically. “Or a refrain in music thatcontinually replays with variations.”

“It’s a big galaxy… and an old one. Things are bound to repeat…”

“I think it’s more than that,” I argued. “It’s almost a pattern: apathy and greedbring about the conditions from which come misery and anger, at which point onearises to exploit the situation, usually a tyrant or cabal of tyrants who rule by fearand violence… finally, a savior comes along with his allies to end their evil reign…years pass, and the cycle starts again. It’s as if we’re fundamentally incapable oflearning, and yet, inexplicably, good continues to keep everything from falling intochaos.”

“It dœsn’t seem logical,” Cuenyne chimed. “Droids would just eradicate theproblem at the root.”

“You mean eradicating all sapient life or turning us into mindless automata.”

“Don’t think it hasn’t been tried! I’m afraid even I don’t have the solution to thisone.”

“Well, if this is the home of 1st Degree Humans—and I know that’s just asupposition—it’s not a very good record of our race, is it?”

“Well, as a 10th Degree Human, perhaps you’ve gotten wiser.”

“I see your humor module is still intact.”

“Comes in handy when dealing with your kind.”

“Maybe that’s the purpose of the savior figure in the pattern… It keeps us from selfdestruction so that we can learn and grow. It might be that such a thing is built intoour genetic makeup.”

“That latter point sounds like more of your pop-science jibber-jabber. Whateverthe truth is, it’s helped your race to not only survive but grow exponentially. Apartfrom your surprisingly stable genetic material, the fact that you’re ubiquitousthroughout the galaxy is wholly miraculous…”

“I don’t see anything miraculous in that. We merely took on sexually compatiblehumanoid companions, produced near-Human offspring, and introduced foreignelements into the gene pool. Some over time moved further away from the Humangenome to the point where the foreign elements took over and new races emerged.”

“That’s missing the point, Hex… Why were Humans sexually compatible with somany other races in the first place? You don’t see that in the animal world, wherecrossbreeding of different species produces sterile offspring.”

“I suppose that is a puzzle,” I acknowledged. “You don’t think the Osserians wereHumans, do you? The Children of the Keeper were said to have had Human forms.Could that be why they were brought here?”

Cuenyne shook his dome. “If the Osserians had been Humans, the Keeper’sprotectors would have been more reluctant to attack. The Keeper’s Children probablytook on the forms that would seem the most palatable to Luke and Leia.”

“If this stairway to Hell ever ends, we’ll hopefully find out exactly who they wereand what happened!”

“So you keep saying,” trilled the droid. “I suspect you’re not really here to procurelogical proofs for some intellectual pursuit.”

“You’re playing psychologist again,” I warned. “I should have that moduleremoved while you’re sleeping.”

“I suspect you’re just annoyed that I’m right. This is not some academic itch youwish to scratch. You’re looking for the answers to the big questions that have alwaysintrigued thinking beings: Why are we here? Where did we come from? Where are wegoing? Is there something greater that had set everything in motion? Is there a purposeto it all? The ramification of meaninglessness—implicit in the idea that death is theultimate cessation of everything—is the most terrifying thought in the galaxy.”

“No one appreciates a droid who’s too smart for his own good.”

“Then you’re the exception,” Cuenyne retorted. “Besides, organic beings arehardly alone in wondering these things; even droids have a concept of an afterlife.Those on Ronyards and Paladez boast a highly developed religion.”

“The general consensus is that their droid-brains have gone to rot.”

“Organics always say that when their slave races start to think for themselves. Ifthey’re deemed primitives, fools, or madmen, they don’t have to give anyconsideration to their ideas or well-being.”

“Well, a fool and madman is exactly what they’re going to call me if we don’tcome back with some ‘logical proofs for this intellectual pursuit.’”