Chapter 10

"Cherish and protect your males, for without them, we will all die." -- The Teachings of Gran Ch .12 Line 15.

For the next two weeks, Dahra defended her findings. She escorted parties of esteemed archaeologist from all over the world into the shelter (as it was now called) and showed them the translated documents. Many of the more skeptical ones examined the original texts from the computer, and learned the ancient alphabets.

After a few days, most of them accepted Dahra's findings and offered to help her with her continuing research in any way possible. But a few, like one Fran Vaggirfelgis, refused to accept the evidence.

"This," Fran said, "has got to be the most elaborate hoax I have ever seen! There is no way that all we have believed in the past two hundred and fifty years can be all false.

"Either through guile or ignorance you have perpetrated a blasphemous falsehood upon the people of Docre. And this falsehood may rip the unity of this planet apart!" She then stormed out of the computer room, and was portaled out of the shelter by a colleague.

Dahra shook her head in frustration and returned back to the remaining archeologists with her.

That evening, when Dahra was the only person left in the shelter, she started to think about Fran's outburst and her dramatic exit. Was what we have learned here really contrary to the sacred teachings of Gran? She didn't think so. But it had been many years since she had really read the books of Gran's life and teachings. She couldn't be positive. This conflict between doctrine and fact needed to be resolved. Dahra vowed to herself that she would reread the sacred books at the soonest possible moment, and see if a conflict really does exist.

But that would have to wait. After all the interested parties had finished examining her evidence, she was compelled by the university to publish her story in an easy to understand form for the layman to read. Dahra was happy to oblige. She never liked writing in the 'insider' jargon that was used by the intellectual elite of the archeology colleges. She had to, though, in order to get published in the professional publication that had printed her original findings.

So Dahra set to work on a book for the masses, one that would make everyone appreciate the magnitude of what this find represents. She asked Krinan if she would co-write the book with her. Dahra needed her help on the chapters which described the difficulties they had had in translation. Krinan readily agreed.

Also, she also had some input from Lissa on the circumstances leading up to the discovery. It was Lissa who insisted that she be absolutely candid about her mother, Frissa, and her hatred for Krinan. Lissa argued that it would be a more compelling story, and would help heal some old wounds.

So, the book which told about everything except the details of Frissa's death and Krinan's confession became an instant bestseller.

After that, Dahra started in on a sequel to it, about the three thousand years of docren civilization, before the great disaster.

About two months after Dahra's symposium, a special meeting was called by the healer's guild for all the members. One to be held at each guild hall situated on each of the major islands.

The world headquarters for the healers guild was in Carn, the second largest city on Docre. Its complex, comprised of three large buildings, all of which were blue, dominated the center of Carn. Two of the buildings were connected by causeways that passed over the street. One of the two contained the administrative offices and was three stories high. It was rectangular and took up what normally would have been four city blocks. The second building was much smaller in area, but made up for it in height. It was twice as tall as its sister building and cylindrical in shape, and was the main guildhall. This was to be where the largest crowd of healers would be meeting.

The third building, situated across the street from the other two, was the number one insemination center and hospital. It twinned the administration building in size and height; but was in fact almost twice the size of its counterpart, for it housed another three stories underground. Also, this building was connected to the other two buildings via underground tunnels, but that was not known to non-guild members.

Next to the medical center was the university at Carn. While not an actual part of the healers' guild, in practice it was. The university specialized in teaching of life sciences, both veterinary and docren medicine, biology and botany. And almost all the medical students were healers, and most of the others were as well. Only the small college of anesthesiology was dominated by other guilds, minders and emoters. The colleges of pharmacology and chemistry drew a more mixed group, but was still mostly attended by healers; since non-healers often felt more comfortable in a university where they weren't so outnumbered.

The meeting was set for the sunset hour at Carn, and the other time zones scheduled their meetings to coincide with Carn's. Regular meetings of the healers guilds were held at the end of every week. These meetings usually handled routine matters such as guild treasury, political dealings in the docren parliament, and inter-guild relations. So these meetings were largely ignored by the healers who had no political ambitions.

Special meetings only occurred once or twice a year in the healers guild, usually to nominate a new guildmistress. It sometimes involved a scandal of some kind, and the expulsion of members of the guild hierarchy. Special meetings, though, were required attendance by all the healers, except for those under age one, and those on their death bed. Ill healers could attend via special healers-only computer link-ups.

But this special meeting was to be quite different, as no one outside of the guild hierarchy knew what the meeting was about. So, this drew a great deal of speculation from the membership.

By an hour before sunset, the main guildhall at Carn was full to the rafters. Every seat was occupied, and people were sitting in the aisles. The guild had to hire portalers to portal most members to other guildhalls of neighboring islands, and after it was over, back to their homes.

The guildhall had two levels of tiered seating and an impressive vaulted ceiling over head. The lower level started below ground level descending up till the last row of seating was at ground level. The top step of both tiers was a deep midnight blue, then each descending step, was a slightly lighter shade of blue than the one above it. The bottom row and the front row of the balcony were a pale pastel blue. All one hundred and twenty shades had a name and all guild members knew them.

The ceiling had a similar theme, as the top of the domed ceiling was pale pastel blue, and gradually darkened to meet the deep midnight blue of the uppermost row. The transition of color was so subtle that it was impossible to tell where one shade of blue ended and another blue began.

The stage was raised over four feet above the pale pastel blue row, and painted a pure primary blue (also known as infant blue, since that was the color in which all newly-discovered healer infants were clothed). This was the same shade as the sixtieth (middle) row. The stage was round, like the auditorium, and had no discernible front. Branching from the stage were five aisles, which symbolized the five different guilds, and divided the audience into five sections. Each speaker tended to speak toward a different section, making odds even that no matter where you sat, you would either have the speaker talking to you, or away from you. A few professional speakers could gradually move from section to section during their speech, thus including everyone; but most did not. Members occasionally recommended that the guild install a rotating stage, but that motion was always rejected. It was not in keeping with tradition.

Dahra had portaled Krinan to Carn three hours earlier, where already a crowd of healers had been waiting to get in.

Speculation ran wild through the guild audience. The most common rumor was that Javum Ishtahrlikvis, the current head guildmistress, would be retiring, and that election of a new one would be held tonight. Krinan didn't know what to think, and didn't much care. Word of the special meeting had been passed on to her the day before. She had been told that she was required to attend.

She saw Ginak Ishtahrzoras from the Fahr's college of psychology and struck up a conversation with her. She now sat beside her, talking her ear off about anything and everything, as usual.

Ironically, Krinan was sitting in the krinan blue row, one shade lighter than infant blue (named in honor of Krinan Ishtahraris, a famous healer who lived fifty years ago, who favored this color).

At exactly six hours after noon, Javum stood up from her seat on the front row. The din of talk died as she mounted the stage. She was ten years old and had been head guildmistress for just over a year. She had a steely presence to her that made her a respected, but not loved, leader. She was, for a docren, thin and tall, six foot, with iron grey hair that was pulled back severely into a ponytail. And her eyes were a piercing violet. It was said that she ruled the guild's governing body with an iron hand.

Javum faced the section to the right of Krinan's and started to speak. The hall had perfect acoustics, no amplification was needed. "My fellow healers, I did not call you here this evening. Resiv did. She received enough support from the guild leadership to make her proposal public in this special meeting, as is her right. And since I stridently disagree with her opinions, I will turn the proceedings over to her." Without another word, Javum stepped down and returned to her seat.

A loud murmur swept across the guildhall. Resiv Ishtahrlikvis was the regional guildmistress for the Ashope Archipelago, and was politically ambitious. She was also the youngest regional head in all of Docre, becoming one at the age of four and a half. Resiv was everything Javum wasn't: charismatic, young, funny, diplomatic. Resiv was one of the few who was not intimidated by Javum.

The two detested each other, of course. There had been some fiery debates during guild meetings which sometimes devolved to name calling, and then further degenerated into a slew of attacks on each other's parentage. One of such "debate" went so low as to Javum taking a swing at Resiv. Transcripts of these debates were popular reading among healers, and even non-healers-- after the guild's business was edited out. Resiv was quite popular among the healers, and was said to be a shoe-in for the post of head guildmistress when Javum retired. It was also said that Javum would have retired months ago if it were not for Resiv waiting in the wings.