Translation State by Ann Leckie

Author:Ann Leckie [LECKIE, ANN]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2023-06-06T00:00:00+00:00

There were several more doors, more corridors, and then, between one step and the next, we were elsewhere. The hum of my rooms disappeared. Everything was different, even though the corridor we walked in seemed the same to look at. I wasn’t sure how I knew it wasn’t actually the same.

“Here,” said Teacher, and opened a door. “They can’t see you.”

I stepped through the door.

Tzam was there. Crouched, naked, sweating. It looked as though their skin was melting off their body.

The room looked small, but I could feel that it was vast, full of doors, and others behind those doors. Watching, I supposed, witnessing the example that Tzam was, at this moment. I didn’t know how that made me feel, the thought that others were here besides myself, seeing this. I felt something, certainly, something very strong, but I had no name for it, nothing to tell me what sort of feeling it was.

On the tiled floor in front of us, Tzam moaned, as though in pain.

Teacher said, “Translator Dlar wishes me to tell you that this is what happens when a juvenile is denied a match.”

“Is the Translator here?” I asked, surprised that any words had come out of me.

“They are,” said Teacher.

“Qven,” moaned Tzam. They lifted their head. “Qven!” they cried. “I know you’re here! Qven!”

“H…” I couldn’t make a sound. I tried again. “How…?” But I knew. I felt a strange sensation on my neck, the place where Tzam’s hand had sunk into me. “How do they…?”

I thought Teacher looked just slightly relieved, and I knew I’d said the right thing. “They can’t see you,” Teacher said again. “They most certainly can’t touch you. Do you need a chair?”

I couldn’t speak. “Qven!” screamed Tzam. “Qven, I need you! Qven, please!” That last dissolved into a sobbing, wordless cry.

A chair was suddenly behind me, against my legs. I sat heavily.

“I did everything I was supposed to,” sobbed Tzam. “I did everything you asked me to do!”

“I’m going to be sick,” I said, and it turned out to be true. Teacher held a basin in front of me—where it had come from I didn’t know and didn’t care.

“Qven, you can save me!” cried Tzam. “I know you’re here, just touch me.” They held out one hand, the hand that had been on my neck. “Just come here and touch me!”

“You can’t,” said Teacher, though I hadn’t moved. “You can’t touch them, and they can’t touch you. Moreover, if you did, you would both be immediately destroyed.”

“How long is this going to take?” I asked.

“Several hours, from the look of things. Are you going to be sick again?”

“Yes.”

When I looked up again, Tzam had melted further, thick, viscous layers of skin sliding down into a growing pool on the floor. Patches of muscle shone here and there under the melting skin, and the bones of one hand were exposed for a moment before they, too, turned wet and began to drip thickly down.

“Qven, you miserable pile of meat!” cried Tzam.

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