Where the Wind Comes Sweepin' Down the Plain

Memory

"Right. Hey, Rick, we're almost there!" Dan called out.

"Oh, thanks." Rick came back and rejoined them. "What's the plan?"

"Find McVeigh and make sure he and Nichols do what they're supposed to," Tom said, "so we're off to Junction City, Kansas and the Dreamland Motel."

=/\=

The courtyard garden was packed. The species had more or less separated themselves out into their various units. Carmen found Kevin, Deirdre and Crystal. "Where are Boris and Levi?" she asked.

"Boris is over there," Crystal pointed. "I don't see Levi yet."

"I'll have his hide if he misses this," Carmen muttered under her breath.

Bryce Unger strode to the middle of the courtyard, where there were two curved benches defining the space around the monument. "Fellow Commission members, welcome. I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am, but also how relieved I am, in some ways, that this is only the second time that we are having a ceremony such as this. And I am proud of all of you, for being here and supporting the Calafan Unit. Our ancestors had a vision, many centuries ago, for all species in the galaxy to work and live together in harmony. That began as the Coalition of Planets, and it became the Federation. And we are together as an offshoot of the Federation, one of its crowning achievements. You, my friends, do not just talk about interspecies caring and cooperation – you live it."

He paused. "The Calafan Unit has been with us at the Commission for a long time. They were one of the first species to join. Their ability to readily pass between our universe and the mirror gives them a unique perspective, not to mention having helped many of the other Commission member species with their mirror missions. This tribute is the least we can do to thank them. And now I will turn the ceremony over to Kaiwev, the leader of the Calafan Unit."

Kaiwev was tall, coppery and had hair. He nodded to Bryce before he spoke. "I thank you all for joining in our mourning. Chellewev was from my side of the pond – the universe you call the mirror. He was, of course, a time traveler, with a specialty in military maneuvers and strategy. As many of you may know, our names have meanings that are important to us. His name breaks down to chelle, which means machine or mechanism, and wev, which is a male suffix that means master of. Hence his name meant Master of Mechanics. But he was not as mechanically inclined as our engineer, Yilta. Often, our names prove to be ironic. It is one of the jokes that we Calafans play on ourselves, I suppose. I hope that when you see his name on this monument that you will smile a little, thinking of a master of mechanics who could not tell a hyperspanner from a magnetic wrench."

He smiled a little, an encouragement to the other species. "And now I would like to call up the remainder of the Calafan Unit to assist me. We are going to sing our funerary chant committing our friend's body to our four gods: Lo, Abic, Fep and Ub. Then Yilta will carve Chellewev's name into the monument, using a hand phaser. I ask you, I hope you will turn off your Universal Translators for a moment and listen to the chant in our language. The translation will be projected onto the sides of the monument. Thank you."

The other Calafans came up. There was a silver woman with hair, and one without. A coppery woman with hair joined them, as did a pair of silver men without hair. Kevin fumbled with his implanted Communicator so as to turn the Universal Translator off.

Miva da miva

Ele da ele

Enne da enne

Dary da dary

Imspi da imspi

Ilben, cha, pran

Chellewev da Lo

Chellewev da Abic

Chellewev da Fep

Chellewev da Ub

And then he looked at the translation:

Soil to soil

Air to air

Water to water

Fire to fire

Speech to speech

Heart, faith, skies

Chellewev to Lo

Chellewev to Abic

Chellewev to Fep

Chellewev to Ub

Yilta came over – she was the silver Calafan woman who had hair, and she aimed a hand phaser at the monument. Kevin stepped back in order to give her some room and his foot turned down awkwardly. He had stepped on something strange.

He looked down. It was a pair of gardening shears.

=/\=

But you
Why you wanna give me a run-around
Is it a sure-fire way to speed things up
When all it does is slow me down

-- Blues Traveler (Run Around)