[ExI] uploads etc.

[Keith Henson]

On Fri, Mar 8, 2024 at 6:18 PM BillK via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> On Sat, 9 Mar 2024 at 01:38, Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> >
> > Are we talking about this The Clinic Seed?
> > https://www.terasemjournals.org/GNJournal/GN0202/henson1.html

December 2041

In the clear light of a late afternoon Lothar's and Mabo's Land Rover
approached the tata over an almost invisible track several kilometers
off the crumbling road between Mango and Dapaong. [1]

Lothar, a heavy-set black man, was dressed in lightweight khaki shorts
and a fishnet shirt.  He wore old running shoes without socks; an
outlandish Australian bush hat folded up on one side over his thick
gray hair, and carried a pouch at his belt.

Lothar’s younger appearing companion, Mabo, was armed with an AK-47.
Mabo sported cut off 501 jeans, a ragged red tee shirt and a fairly
new pair of running shoes.  In place of a hat he had an American-style
bright blue "do-rag" over a reversed baseball cap.

Both the bush hat and the “do-rag” were made of utility fog. [2]  The
fog interfaced to their neural implants.


Image 1 - African Village

The tata, a mud walled settlement of 21 traditional round houses with
palm frond roofs, was set against the wall of a wide wadi. [3] The
tata incorporated two rusting metal roofed buildings that were too hot
to live in during the dry season (which was just starting) but made
adequate storage sheds.  Outside the wall were more than a dozen
melted-down-to-stumps ruins of other round houses--the result of
smallpox that had slopped deep into Africa after being released by a
desperate Russia during the "-stan" wars on their southern border.

Image 2 - African Village

Rumors of miracle working strangers had been rife for weeks among the
Tamberma [4] so the appearance of the duo's Land Rover at the gate of
the tata was not a complete surprise.  The Land Rover had several
dozen little hooks welded on it.  On many of the hooks were hung
fetishes of obvious potency.

Lothar introduced himself in Tamari with more than a hint of Ditamari,
[5] but could be understood.  His ethnic background was hard for the
villagers to judge.  There seemed to be a lot of European in his
features, but (because his skin was set to “dark”) he was as black as
the villagers.  Mabo had features more typically African.  Both of
them moved with the easy grace of the rejuvenated.

The tata inhabitants greeted both cordially.  Rich visitors had been
common a generation ago but were so rare now that the children hung
back and did not beg.

The visitors turned out to be good guests, providing several large
tins of meat and a sack of ground corn.  Two of the tins were opened,
mixed with corn and along with local vegetables cooked up by the women
into a communal meal.  During the repast, Lothar was asked the
provenance of his name.

"One hundred years ago an African, a 'Prince of the Seven Nations,'
named Lothar lived many day's walks from here."  Lothar pointed
vaguely to the southeast.

"A powerful white magician, Mandrake, came to Africa to learn our
magic."  This visibly impressed the villagers.


"I carry his name and his mana." [6]  Lothar touched his hat--which
morphed into a fez and then with another touch into a magician top
hat.  A third touch brought the hat back to the bushman hat
configuration.

There was a good deal of ooing and ahhing over this, partly because
the ambiguities of the language made it possible that Lothar was a
prince.  Well, anyone with a Land Rover and an armed servant had to be
something special.

Lothar's mission (explained to the elders when the children had gone
to bed) was to trade for one of the tata's fetishes.


Image 3 - Human Skulls

"I am fated to experience a great danger."  Lothar told the tata dwellers.

This boggled the tata elders.  What would a man with a Land Rover and
an armed guard consider great danger?

"I was instructed by a powerful seer 'Foundation Gates' to obtain a
protective fetish from as many Tamberma tatas as possible."

"The only thing I have to trade for one of your valuable and powerful
fetishes is a seed that grows into a clinic."

The village elders excused themselves to consider Lothar's offer
apart.  Lothar’s hat and Mabo’s “do rag” configured themselves as
sound receptors and fed the overheard discussion to their neural
interfaces:

(Colloquial translation)

"The man may be a shaman, but he's barkin' mad!" said Elder 1.

"Yeah, but that's no reason not to rip him off," commented Elder 2.

"I don't think we can get any more canned meat, or corn meal.  The
kids looked." said Elder 3.

"We have plenty of fetishes from the houses of people who died of the pox."

"He didn't say he needed one that worked."

"Do you think this 'clinic seed' is worth anything?"

The nearest medical help was a day's walk for a healthy person.  With
fuel for wheeled transport being hard to get, the seriously sick or
injured would sometimes die on the way.

"Strange tales have come from the North, it might be."

After some hard bargaining, the tata elders swapped a prime monkey
skull fetish for a clinic seed.  The planting was to be made in the
morning since the Land Rover was parked outside the wall.

In the middle of the night there was an appalling inhuman scream.  The
local leopard had made an unwise decision to mark the strange smelling
object that had intruded into his territory.  Unfortunately for the
leopard, urine is a decent conductor at 50,000 volts and when he did
there was a bright blue flash behind him.  Fortunately for all
concerned, the cat was not pointed at the tata entrance when he
sprayed. The leopard stopped to lick his tingling privates after
bounding half a kilometer.

Mabo, who slept in the Land Rover, turned off the high voltage
anti-theft circuit before he got out in the morning.

Breakfast was a small amount of leftover dinner and portions of millet
porridge.  After eating, Lothar accepted his newly acquired fetish and
hung it on an empty hook.

He and Mabo maneuvered the Land Rover to the spot picked by the
elders.  They got between the seats and the seed and pushed the half
cubic meter clinic seed to the back of the Land Rover with their legs.
There were fabric loops in the top, and with the help of some stout
poles and half a dozen men from the tata, they got it on the ground
and moved into a place where the village walls could be extended to it
when it grew up.

"In order for it to grow properly and to know to whom it belongs, it
must be touched here on this sticky patch by everyone in the tata."
Lothar told them.  Most of the tata inhabitants were close by watching
the "planting" so this went quickly.

"Now it needs water so it can start to grow."   Since the villagers
were farmers, this made sense so they dutifully poured 100 liters of
water into a hole in the top of the seed.  Fortunately the spring they
used was not far away and this soon after the rainy season was flowing
well.

(I will post the rest over the next day or so or you can just go read
it.  I hope you have better comprehension than the chat bots.)

Keith

> > https://www.terasemjournals.org/GNJournal/GN0202/henson2.html
> > https://www.terasemjournals.org/GNJournal/GN0202/henson3.html
> > https://www.terasemjournals.org/GNJournal/GN0202/henson4.html
> > https://www.terasemjournals.org/GNJournal/GN0202/henson5.html
> > https://www.terasemjournals.org/GNJournal/GN0202/henson6.html
> > _______________________________________________



Keith
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