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

information about pride from one of our men and could begin to
produce men like that herself.”
    Charni was silent for a while, trying to
assimilate all that information. It all seemed so logical …
    “ But Mama … why didn’t you
want Qjem to know that you are queen? You let him think he’s in
charge.”
    “ Well, it’s always been
like that. We don’t know how men organize themselves in the other
world or how they live together and prepare themselves to fight. …
We really don’t care as long as they fulfill their role. In the
same way, they don’t know how we organize ourselves, and they don’t
care as long as the balance is maintained.”
    “ Yes, but he knew. He
textured that he knew. Why not let him know he was
right?”
    “ So he would believe it’s
important to me that he doesn’t know because I’m afraid of what he
could do to me. Qjem, like the other elderly men who held the same
position before him, is smart. But if I can convince him that I’m
worried about him knowing my position in this world, I get two
things.
    “ First, he thinks that I’m
stupid for trying to fool him, so I represent no threat to him or
his intellect and of course to his pride. Second, he’ll believe
that he has power over me and over other women as well, if he can
threaten to take the throne from me or make other women feel lost
without their queen and in that way more manageable. He doesn’t
understand the implications of the position, and he also doesn’t
know that I am the first one who has lasted so long in
it.
    “ Finally, my child,
everything comes down to the same thing. Pride. Or not holding the
knife by the blade. Which is precisely what we’re going to have to
do with Chaid Khasat. But we must carry it out for the good of all
women. Let’s wait a pair of bleeds before ordering him be made to
realize how he should behave. If we do it sooner, it might be too
suspicious and that could hurt us.”
    Charni’s mouth gaped in
surprise and she shook her head to show her confusion.
    “ But … but … I thought
that …” she began. “Well … you thanked Qjem. I got the impression
that you were satisfied and agreed with the way they solved the
problem with Chaid.”
    “ Chaid became an invalid
too soon. At the time, he should have accepted that it’s better to
die in battle than to be too weak to fight or simply be a burden on
everyone else. But he was a coward. He preferred to keep living in
a sorry state than to face up to his responsibility to his people.
There are many ways to be an invalid, it’s true. But those who are
and arrive here before they get old, soon or later wind up
accepting their shame and try to make amends by being the least
bothersome as possible or trying to be useful to the other men who
form our last line of defense.
    “ Yet Chaid has been here
for seven cycles and not only is he an authentic nuisance, he isn’t
even man enough to admit his own weakness. Instead, he spills his
own rage, frustration and shame on all women, physically and
brutally. His is an aberration. Obviously one of us women is
responsible for having brought such a weak warrior as him into the
world, but since we’ll never know who produced him, we can’t hold
all women responsible and make us all pay for it this
way.
    “ But there’s more. We
ought to be especially careful with him because he’s not only
brutal, he’s shown that he can be as insidious as a woman. That is,
he knows how to use some of our weapons. So it’s logical to think
that the justice Qjem did won’t be enough to stop him. No. If I
were in his place, men’s justice wouldn’t stop me either. So just
like us, he’ll say he is guilty although he doesn’t believe it.
He’ll move slowly and carefully, and he’ll be patient, very
patient, and when he feels sure he’s fooled everyone, he’ll act
again, but cautiously, so no one can accuse him of anything again.
Oh … I’m sure of it.
    “ Now, as good Ksatrya
women, we’ll be