Touchstone 1 - Stray

have to pass exams on related knowledge and practical competence. It sounds like you have to pass exams to get to do pretty much anything; it’s all about demonstrating capacity. The top non-military government jobs are Lahanti (city leaders like mayor, except that they’re mayors of cities of tens of millions) and any resident can apply to be a Lahanti. They have to pass all these tests and then a council chooses from the top scorers. I asked Sa Lents if people could cheat, or buy better results, or at least bribe the council if they got top scores and he squirmed around the answer a bit and said that such things were very difficult but that no system was perfect.
    I’d already thought about the question of cheating and whether having a computer in your head means that there’s no crime, but it’s not quite so absolute as I thought. Citizens aren’t actively monitored, but breaking into someone’s house, for instance, when you don’t have permission to be there, will trigger alerts. If you attack someone, they can immediately let emergency services observe what they’re seeing. If you’re knocked out, your interface will send an alert for help. One of the movies Nenna and I watched showed bad guys using programs which changed who the system thought they were, and gave permissions they weren’t supposed to have. Probably as likely as any of the hacker excesses of Hollywood but still based on the possible. Tare comes across as hard-working, orderly, and obedient, but not any kind of ideal society. I’m not going to forget the forced birth control any time soon. And they have monster attacks, of course. All the movies Nenna wants me to watch either involve cute boys or monster attacks or both – so not too different from what I watch at home, hah.
    There’s no stilettos, either. It was a funny thing to notice. Nenna’s wardrobe is full of platform boots, and sandals, and a couple of pairs of court shoes, and that’s what they’re wearing in the movies too. Haven’t seen anyone tottering about on pinpoint high heels. Make-up and hair is pretty similar – other than the popularity of day-glo dyes – and there seems to be a complex tradition involving henna-coloured designs on your face. Geometric patterns on guys, and curly tendrils for girls, usually on one cheek or the corner of the forehead or drifting up from the throat. It seems to mainly be worn with really formal, dressed up outfits.
    No printed-out books that I’ve seen. That sucks. I don’t mind reading onscreen, and there’s no glare or eyestrain problems if you’re reading inside your head, but it’s just not the same as a proper paperback. Also, no meat in all the meals I’ve eaten so far, except for fish. And that not very often. At least, I think it’s fish. Maybe they cook up the monsters they hunt.
    Though it’s common not to change surnames when you get married on Tare, the tradition is for the husband to take the wife’s name, so ‘Lents’ is Tsa Lents’ wife’s family name. That’s kind of cool.
    Beyond the stars, rampant consumerism
    I have money. The allowance has an official name which is very long and vague, but boils down to “Lost Aliens Stipend”. Nenna and her mother are taking me shopping for clothes and to see some kind of sport called Tairo.
    I keep swapping between excited interest and an unexpected urge to start yelling. I far prefer shopping on Tare to starving on Muina, and yay relatively benign alien civilisation. But the allowance gave me a loud, clear message that what happens now is I learn the language, find a job, build a life here. Getting me home is just not a priority to these people.
    Working on gratitude adjustment.
    Making a display
    Nenna finds my taste in clothes very boring, but otherwise it was a fun day. It’s hard not to enjoy shopping, and I found clothes I liked and managed not to have my head explode from all the layered interface displays everywhere, and didn’t gawk too much at the occasional person who looked really outrageous – blue glowing patterns beneath skin, hair extensions that reach out and touch passers-by, clothing that constantly oozes and changes shape. Nenna called these kind of people ‘teba’, which I think might be the equivalent of Goths. Or avant garde experimental artists. They were certainly an exciting reminder that I wasn’t in just any old shopping centre.
    Plus Tairo rocks.
    Picture a big glass box, with the audience in rows all up against the