Terra Nova: An Anthology of Contemporary Spanish Science Fiction by Mariano Villarreal Read Free Book Online Page A

in this world, but at a half-cycle, they’re taken to the
other one. There, everything is wild and brutal. And they don’t
just need a fifth sense, they need a thick contour. Have you
perceived Qjem’s? Even though he’s elderly, his muscles are many
times bigger than ours. Our contour is not like that. The opposite,
in fact. When you touch us, you can feel our bones, something that
I’m sure you have never felt in men, right? From their point of
view, we’re the weak ones because we couldn’t survive in the cruel
world where they live for cycles and cycles. From our point of
view, they are the weak ones because they couldn’t exist without
our help.”
    “ Of course. Physically
we’re weak compared to them, but as they themselves say, we’re
valuable. But I didn’t perceive that consideration in Qjem’s tone
of voice. Not for a moment. In fact, I seemed to sense … contempt.
As if it bothered him not only to come here but simply to have to
talk to you. And you … you talked to him as if you had to thank him
just for letting you breathe.”
    Her mother sighed, then held her even
tighter against her chest. Then she began to caress her arms to
show affection and at the same time to ask for patience.
    “ Yes.” She sighed again.
“I suppose the moment has arrived for you to know how the world
works. Well. Let’s feel this together. There is a kind of balance
between women and men. They protect us, and we help them see. They
bring us food from the other world, and we make sure than those who
live in this one do not die from hunger. Without men there would be
no spilling of information and we couldn’t produce women. Without
women, they could spill, but it would be useless wasted
information, and they would have no way to keep up the number of
guards. But this balance is fragile, and it is our duty to maintain
it any way we have to because we’re really the ones responsible for
this fragility.”
    Charni tensed her muscles at the final
sounds and textures that her mother had transmitted. Had women done
something wrong? How?
    “ Yes, Charni. Feel it. Men
are the best weapon and protection we have against the other world,
and yet in our desire to produce the strongest and most able
warriors, the most honorable of all, we transmit the information of
pride to them. Without a doubt it’s the best way for a Ksatrya man
to achieve his goal, and yet it can also be his biggest weakness.
So we have to take both the blame and the responsibility for having
created such a powerful weapon. If it’s not carefully managed, it
could turn against us. That’s why we treat our men with such
pampering and care. If you never put your finger on the blade of a
knife that you hold tight in your hand, you’ll never cut yourself
with it. And really, that’s a small price to pay compared to the
benefits we get: safety, protection, food, production …”
    “ Right.” Charni managed to
relax herself enough. “I think I understand. But … I get the
sensation that Qjem —and I suppose the rest of the men— don’t
perceive it that way. Worse, he called us insidious and vengeful. I
don’t know what the first word means, but I understand they look
down on us with it. I also don’t like the comparison with women in
the other world.”
    “ But it’s true, Charni. We
are insidious and vengeful. In what other way do you think we could
fight the women who are our enemies and who we can’t perceive from
this world?”
    “ Women
enemies?”
    “ Of course. Who do you
think we fight against? Men say that they fight other men, but we
understand that the real enemies are the women who produce these
men. Try to imagine it, Charni. To live in a wild and dangerous
world without limits. I’d also do everything I could to conquer
this one, with its safe limits. But since they remain incapable of
producing men with pride, we don’t have to worry … for now. I don’t
want to think about what it would mean if one of those women got
the