The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper
The Margarets
Sheri S. Tepper
In fond memory of
my friend of sixty-three years,
LAMBERT J. LARSON,
without whose encouragement
I would never have written a word
Contents
What the Gardener Told Me Might Have Happened
I Am Margaret/on Phobos
I Am Wilvia
I Am Margaret/on Mars
I Am Margaret/on Earth
Who Is Margaret?
I Am Gretamara/on Chottem
I Am Ongamar/on Cantardene
I Am Naumi/on Thairy
I Am Wilvia/on B’yurngrad
I Am Gretamara/on Chottem
I Am Margaret/on Earth
I Am Naumi/on Thairy
I Am Margaret/on Earth
I Am Ongamar/on Cantardene
I Am Gretamara/on Chottem
I Am Naumi/on Thairy
I Am Margaret/on Earth
I Am M’urgi/on My Way to B’yurngrad
I Am Mar-agern, Going to Fajnard
I Am Ongamar/on Cantardene
I Am Margaret/on Tercis
I Am Wilvia/on B’yurngrad
I Am M’urgi/on B’yurngrad
I Am Mar-agern/on Fajnard
I Am M’urgi/on B’yurngrad
I Am Margaret/on Tercis
I Am Margaret/on Tercis
I Am Naumi, with Fernwold
I Am Mar-agern/on Fajnard
I Am Wilvia/on Hell
I Am Gretamara/on Mars
I Am Margaret, at a Birthday Party on Tercis
I Am M’urgi/on B’yurngrad
I Am Ongamar/on Cantardene
I Am M’urgi/on B’yurngrad
I Am Margaret/on Tercis
I Am Margaret, with Hayraiders on Fajnard
I Am M’urgi, with Fernwold on B’yurngrad
I Am Margaret/on Fajnard
I Am M’urgi, with Fernwold on B’yurngrad
I Am Margaret/on Fajnard
I Am M’urgi/on B’yurngrad
I Am Gretamara/on Chottem
I Am M’urgi/on B’yurngrad
I Am Margaret and Mar-agern on Fajnard
I Am Gretamara/on Chottem
I Am Ongamar/on Cantardene
I Am Gretamara and Ongamar/on Chottem
We Margarets Assemble/on B’yurngrad
I Am Gretamara/on Tercis
I Am Naumi/on B’yurngrad
We Margarets Walk
About the Author
Other Books by Sheri S. Tepper
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher
THE MARGARETS
PLANETS LOCATIONS INHABITANTS OF
MARS
Human bases on Phobos and in Valles Marineris
Margaret Bain
Louise and Harry Bain, her parents
Chili Mech, a technician
EARTH
The worldwide Urb, occupying the entire planet’s surface
Dr. David Mackey, Margaret’s husband
CHOTTEM (Human colony planet, partly occupied by the Gibbekot)
Perepume, a continent occupied by the Gibbekot
Manland, a continent partially settled by humans
Within Manland: The city of Bray, a sea city
Stentor d’Lorn, Founder and Tycoon
Mariah d’Lornschilde, his daughter
Von Goldereau d’Lornschilde, a cousin
The village of Swylet
The Gardener, a longtime resident
Gretamara, [a Margaret] foster daughter of the Gardener
Benjamin Finesilver, artist and dreamer, husband of Mariah
Sophia, his daughter
Grandma Bergamot, Grandfather Vinegar, and other herbal persons
CANTARDENE (Mercan planet, occupied by the K’Famir)
Om-Bak-Zandig-Shadup (Crossroads of the Worlds) freeport
Bak-Zandig-g’Shadup (Street of Many Worlds) pleasure district
Ongamar, [a Margaret] bondslave, seamstress
Adille, a K’Famira, a pleasure-female, Ongamar’s owner
Bargom, Adille’s patron
Lady Ephedra, K’Famira, owner of House Mouselline
Progzo, Adille’s father
Draug B’lango, Adille’s clan leader
The Hill of Beelshi (site of unspeakable rites)
THAIRY (Human colony planet, also occupied by the Gibbekot)
Town of Bright
Naumi, [a Margaret] foster son of Rastarong
Mr. Wyncamp, school manager
Mr. Weathereye, elderly, odd personage with one eye various citizens and louts
Fort Point Zibit (site of the academy)
Captain Orley, commandant
Sergeant Orson, in charge of first-year cadets
Grangel, cadet and lout
Jaker, Flek, Poul, Caspor and Ferni, cadets and Naumi’s friends
TERCIS (Human colony planet, divided into “Walled-Offs”)
Hostility (a Walled-Off )
Rueful (a Walled-Off ) Contrition City
Repentance (a large town)
Remorseful (a small town, site of the school, also a river)
Deep Shameful (a hamlet)
Crossroads (a village in The Valley)
Grandma Mackey [a Margaret]
Dr. Bryan Mackey, her husband
Maybelle and Mayleen, Margaret’s daughters
James Joseph Judson ( Jimmy Joe), Maybelle’s husband
Til and Jeff, their twin sons
Gloriana, their daughter
Falija, Glory’s fosterling
Billy Ray Judson, Mayleen’s husband
Joe Bob and Billy Wayne (twin sons)
Ella May and Janine Ruth (twin daughters)
Benny Paul, son, twin died at birth
Trish, daughter, twin died at birth
Sue Elaine and Lou Ellen, twin daughters
Orvie John, son, twin died at birth
Little Emmaline, daughter, twin died at birth
[At time of story, Billy Wayne has gone off to the army, Ella May has joined the Siblinghood of Silence, and Janine Ruth has moved to Contrition City.]
Pastor Grievy
Abe Johnson
Bamber Joy, Abe’s foster son
Others mentioned in passing
FAJNARD (formerly Gentheran planet taken over by the Frossians)
The Fastness—where Gentherans still live
The Grasslands—occupied by
The umox farm
Medicines sans Limites. Volunteer doctors, human
Frossians
Mar-agern, [a Margaret] bondslave, herdswoman
Umoxen, wool-bearing animals, or perhaps not
Ghoss, humans, somewhat modified
Deen-agern, a Ghoss
Rei-agern, a Ghoss
Various Frossian slave drivers and overlords
Howkel and Mrs. Howkel, hayraiders
Mirabel and Maniacal, two of their children
Gizzardiles: inimical creatures
HELL (distant, little-known planet with a tragic history)
One buried Gentheran ship
Wilvia [a Margaret]
CRANESROOST (Human colony planet)
EDEN (Human colony planet)
B’YURNGRAD (Human colony planet)
The prairies, temperate zone
The Siblinghood
The Tribes, former bondslaves of violent disposition
Dark Runner, a tribal boy and man
Wolf Mother, a shamaness
M’urgi, [a Margaret] her apprentice
Fernwold, M’urgi’s lover, a member of the Siblinghood
The icelands, an area of severe winters
B’Oag, an oasthouse keeper<
Ojlin, his son
G’lil, a young woman rescued at the last moment
Ogric, a worker
AMBIGUOUS INDIVIDUALS OR THINGS OF VARIOUS OR UNCERTAIN LOCATION
Ghyrm, a deadly parasite
Mr. Weathereye
Lady Badness
The Gardener
Dweller in Pain
Flayed One-Drinker of Blood
Whirling Cloud of Darkness-Eater of the Dead
Sysarou, Gentheran Goddess of Abundance and Joy
Ohanja, Gentheran God of Honor, Duty, and Kindness
NONHUMAN RACES
Baswoidin: ancient, secretive, superior
Elos: Omniont race, graceful, sneery, arrogant
Frossian: Mercan race, boneheaded, vaguely humanoid, malign
Garrick: related to the Gentherans
Gentherans: mysterious, beneficent
Gibbekot: humanoid, furry, small
Hrass: Omniont race, tapirlike, unassuming, dirty, cringing
K’Famir: Mercan race, four-legged, four-armed, vicious
K’Vasti: Mercan race, distantly related to K’Famir, less vicious
Pthas: ancient, very wise, now presumed extinct or departed
Quaatar: Mercan race, ancient, prideful, arrogant, vengeful
Thongal: Mercans, hireling spies and killers
Trajians: a very ancient itinerant race, famous as entertainers
ORGANIZATIONS
Siblinghood of Silence: a secret organization including humans and Gentherans
ISTO: Interstellar Trade Organization. A regulatory organization of all races engaging in interstellar trade
IGC: Intergalactic Court. The final arbiter in conflicts among races
Mercan Combine: Confederation of vile races united by proximity, race, language, commerce
Omniont Federation: Similar to the Mercan Combine, but less cutthroat and more concerned with ethics
Dominion Central Authority: Oversight body set up by the Gentherans to represent off-Earth humans
What the Gardener Told Me Might Have Happened
Once a very long time ago, between fifty and a hundred thousand years, a small group of humans fleeing from predators took refuge in a cave. Clinging to one another during the night, they heard a great roaring, louder and more fierce than the roars of the beasts they knew, and when they peeked out at dawn, they saw that a moon had fallen out of the sky. The sun was just rising, the changeable baby moon they were used to was with Mother Sun, so the fallen moon belonged to someone else.
The someone elses were walking here and there, clanking and creaking. Ahn, the leader of the people, noticed holes around the bottom of the moon, open holes as large as caves. The clanking things were frightening, but not so scary as the animals howling among the nearest trees. Ahn, the leader, had no memory of such things; neither did any of the other of his people. No clanking things. No falling moons.
Ahn nodded, thoughtfully. It was harder when it was a new thing. If they had a memory of the thing, it was easier to figure out what to do. Otherwise, they had to decide, then see what would happen. It did seem to Ahn, however, that hiding inside the moon was a good idea. When the moon went back up into the sky, the beasts couldn’t follow. The holes smelled strange, so Ahn went first in case there were bad things inside.
Just as there had been no memory of fallen moons, there had been no memory of those who owned the moon: the Quaatar, who disliked being fooled with, bothered by, or trespassed upon by anything. Even if Ahn had had such a memory, the immediacy of his people’s situation might have made him risk it. Since he did not know it, he had no qualms about leading his people up the vent tubes and thence into a hydroponic oasis.
The ship’s robots found nothing worth ravening upon the world; the ship departed. Inside, the stowaways lived rather pleasantly on the juicy bodies of small furry vermin that infested the ship and the garden produce that fed the noncarnivorous creatures aboard. When the ship finally landed, the people went out to find themselves not in the sky, as they had expected, but rather upon some other world, where their eager senses informed them there were no predators at all. The world was a paradise, and they fled into it.
Ahn’s people never knew how they got there; the Quaatar were and are a little-known people. The females are said to be solitary, aquatic, and planet-bound. The males return to the water only to breed. It is said if one imagines a huge, multilegged lizard, hundreds of years old, who is able to talk and count from one to six, one has imagined a Quaatar. The race became starfaring only by accident. Early in their evolutionary history, they were approached by an advanced people who offered to trade for mining rights on the several lifeless, metal-rich planets of the system. Galactic Law required that they need deal only with the most numerous indigenous group. The Quaatar demanded first that three lesser tribes, the Thongal, Frossians, and K’Famir, who had long ago branched treacherously from the Quaatar genetic line, be wiped out. Since Galactic Law did not permit such a thing, the mining concessionaires offered many other inducements, finally agreeing, among other things, to move the other tribes or races far away. The Thongal, Frossians, and K’Famir, all of whom were more agile and far cleverer than the Quaatar, had no objection at all to being removed from the dismal swamps of Quaatar and given drier planets of their own. They were accordingly transported, leaving the Quaatar alone and unchallenged in their insistence that themselves, their world, and their language were sacred and inviolable.
For generations the Quaatar traded mining rights for fancy uniforms, medals, starships, and spare parts plus an endless supply of non-Quaatar mechs, techs, and astrogators to keep the ships flying. Though Quaatar owned the ships and appropriated all the fancy titles (captain, chief science officer, and so on), they never learned how to go from point A to point B without relying on non-Quaatar crew members who could count much higher than six to take them there.