Chapter 55: Babylon

The marshes gave way to the packed humus of a forest of organic trees, very straight, offering no shelter from the morning rain. Then a dirt road appeared. The Wau stopped running and leaping and began to walk at a steady pace-walking, inside the Armor, was a form of rest.

On the road, travelers from other worlds, but also from other times. The Xenos had no qualms about using the simplest modes of transportation, whether a ship or riding a bipedal bird. Between the straight, densely packed trees that gave the feel of a fir forest and the dirt road, there were rickety wooden carts, Xenos carrying immense bundles that they sometimes rolled in front of them like dung beetles. Often a Xeno carried two; sometimes ten; sometimes one couldn’t tell anymore who was carrying whom.

Passing and observing these Xenos-who responded only with indifference-the Wau was struck by a mysterious realization. The Xenos here were all different: insectoids, worms, protean creatures with legs and wings, sometimes humanoid serpents swaying with dignity, others-bulky masses-hid under large, dirty cloths. Some long mice darted between his feet. Booz, and Babylon, were referred to throughout the HS as “the Mecca of the Xenos.” Xenos seemed to come from across the universe, but these were different from those seen on Prospero or Calchas. No Anticyclopes. No Mu’min or N’pali. But they weren’t natives either.

Booz was not known for its spaceports, and even less so Babylon: the ships of the HS, mainly exotic tourism vessels, landed near the city. So where had they come from? And why had no one asked the question?

The Wau approached a six-eyed serpent man who looked at him curiously. He greeted him, and the other responded with gestures. The Stellar Tongue. The lingua franca of the Xenos. And to think he didn’t know it-he, the Wau. He resumed his path, scanning for any sign of humans.

Babylon emerged between the tall, tightly packed trees: on the edge of the inland sea, in these humid regions. But the constructions rose high, and for good reason: a large, dirty, whitish rock, as wide as the city, seemed to have fallen from the sky-or risen from the underworld-to provide a base. Upon a foundation of square houses that looked drawn from Earth’s ancient past, the Xenos had built termite mounds, rigid towers, sometimes modern spires of impenetrable glass, sometimes also pyramids or large open-air arches, marking boundaries for species that needed no roofs.

A human-long, dirty hair, damp clothes, outdated devices around his belt-was guiding tourists and spotted the Wau. He approached shouting:

- “Well, well! Didn’t I say you can find EVERYTHING in Babylon?”

The Wau quickly scanned their surfacing psyches. The guy was a tour guide, a slightly dim humanophobe who lived happily among the Xenos. He had taken a bit of the local drug and was half-convinced he was a Xeno. Behind him, there was a borderline psychopath who wanted to have sex with a Xeno. He had made the trip for that. It looped obsessively in his mind and the sight of the Wau disgusted him. Lastly, there was a slightly older couple. The man was a stellar geographer who had wanted to see Booz before the After. His wife accompanied him but was uneasy. She hadn’t loved him for a long time.

- “You’re a Wau, right, sir?” asked the guide. “Name’s Lovis. I’m a guide. Say, can we take a picture?”

- “Yes, as long as you answer my questions.”

- “Oh well, if I can help you, I’ll be so happy!”

The couple had pulled out a cheap terminal and were taking photos.

- “Do you speak the Stellar Tongue?” asked the Wau.

- “Yup! I mean, I muddle through. I can act as your interpreter.”

- “Where did you learn it?”

- “The only way to learn it is to go to the temple...”

His brainwaves vibrated with a nervous lie.

- “And you, how did you learn it?”

- “At the temple, of course!”

- “Lovis,” said the giant who towered over him by twice his height, “I’m not here to chase you or judge you. I want to learn the Stellar Tongue, quickly. Tell me the truth, and not only will I keep it secret, but I’ll also be in your debt.”