Tongues of the Moon

For a while, there was much shuffling around and talking in low tones, then Old Man Dahlquist, so-called because he was senior by many years to anybody else on the Moon, rose.

He rapped once with a gavel and then spoke in flawless Midwestern English.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you the chairman of this meeting, Colonel Scone."

Scone rose and looked around. There was no applause. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, John Ying, a Chinese delegate, jumped to his feet and spoke excitedly in Mandarin.

"I protest! Under what authority does... ?"

Scone bellowed at him. "Sit down! You accepted my invitation to attend this meeting, and you were told why you are here! I am chairman, and I will waste no time disputing my right to be so nor the reason for this conference! Moreover, during this conference, no one who speaks in anything but English will be recognized. Sit down and shut up until I give you permission to speak!"

Broward, sitting in the front row of the audience, thought that Scone was being very arrogant indeed. Yet, he could not help being pleased. The North Americans had suffered much after the war when the Chinese had occupied the western coast. Later, the Russians had forced withdrawal of all the Chinese except a few token garrisons. The Russians were no better, but the westerners had not forgotten their savage treatment by the Orientals.

Ying was red in the face, quivering, his fists clenched. He glared at Scone, but Scone regarded him with a face as immovable as that of Mount Everest. Presently, Ying sat down.

"Now," said Scone. "Everyone in this room has been given a document. This outlines the reasons for our being here. Also, the rules by which we will proceed. If you don't care to attend or to obey the parliamentary rules, leave now."

He paused and stared around the room. Seeing that no one was disposed to take action, he said, "Very well. The first thing we should take into consideration is the military aspect. That is, the type of action to be taken against the Axis colonies on Mars, if there are any left, and what type of organization we will operate with.

"Unfortunately, there are other matters to be cleared up before we can discuss that. The main thing is, which base will be the leader? I say leader, not equal partner, because I know what will happen if we have a joint military head. With three commanders-in-chief, all with equal powers, we will have nothing but quarreling over matters of policy and ways to implement that policy. To survive, we must have one unquestioned leader, a man who can decide at once what action to take. And who will be obeyed without hesitation.

He paused again to look at the shocked men at the table with him.

Broward, though he felt uncomfortable at the brutal directness of Scone and his arrogance, was also pleased. To see the situation now reversed, the Americans giving the orders and the Russians and Chinese helpless to do anything about it, warmed him.

Ying said, "Colonel Scone."

"You will address me as Mr. Chairman."

Ying swallowed and said, "Mr. Chairman."

"You may speak, General Ying."

"You Clavians need us as much as we need you. Therefore..."

"You are wrong, General. We need you, but not as much as you need us. Not nearly as much. You know that. Let's have no more argument on that point."

Ying closed his eyes, and his lips moved silently.

Scone smiled slightly. He said, "Russian was the means for intercommunication between the bases. It will now be English. And this brings up another matter. Language is not only a means for communication. It may also be a barrier to communication. I foresee that we will all become one people in the future, a long time before we or our descendants are able to return to Earth. The use of three or more languages will keep us separate, maintain the hostilities and misunderstandings. I propose, therefore, that we make one language the primary tongue of all. Our children will be taught this language, will grow up thinking of it as their native tongue."

Broward rose. "Mr. Chairman!"

"Captain Broward."

"I move that all the bases of the Moon should agree to accept one language as the primary language. This will be spoken everywhere, except in the privacy of one's quarters, where one may use whatever language pleases him."

Miller, the zoologist, rose and seconded the motion.

Scone then declared that the representatives and delegates could speak for their choices. Each speaker was to be limited to two minutes, and a particular language could not be pled for more than once.

Panchurin, the Russian commandant, was the first to be recognized. He was a short broad man with brown-yellow hair and a broad high cheekboned face and was thirty-five years old.

"I do not understand how English can be made the language of base intercommunication but some other language can also be the universal speech. There is a contradiction."

"English will be used during the present state of emergency. Afterwards, we will adopt whichever tongue is chosen at this meeting. Let me remind you what I told you in the document. That is, that the voting on various issues will not be a farce. I have not, as they say in English, packed the house. For every American or West European at this meeting, there is a Russian and a Chinese."

Broward smiled. It was true that the Russian and Chinese bases had a number of delegates to equal those of Clavius. But they had sent only those specifically invited by Scone. And he had included among the Russian nationals various Turkish speakers, Armenians, Georgians, Lithuanians, Estonians. And among the Chinese were several Japanese, Indonesians, Indians, Thai, and Filipinos, none of whom had any reason to love the Chinese.

Panchurin said, "Then I understand correctly that the universal language will be chosen by popular vote? That the particular one will not be rammed down our throats?"

"Of course not. I am only requiring that we vote on one now because, after the Axis have been dealt with, we may not be able to agree so easily or quickly on an issue like this."

"I would speak of the Russian language," said Panchurin, "its glory, its beauty, the ease of learning it, its antiquity, its universality, the fact that the two greatest novelists of all ages, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, wrote in it, and that the immortal Lenin used it to expound Marxism. But I am sure that other speakers will use much the same arguments for their own tongues, so I will refrain. You may rest assured, however, that we Russians will uphold our own glorious speech. And we are confident that many among you non-Russians also appreciate its superiority."

Scone then recognized Emile Lorilleux, the geochemist. He spoke passionately and poetically for two minutes on the beauty, the conciseness and exactness, the great adaptability, the long recognized distinction of French as a diplomatic tool, and the greatness of its literature, second to none.

There were others. Kreooson, the only Greek on the Moon, spoke even more eloquently of the unbroken continuity of his native speech, of the richness and beauty, the tongue of Homer, Euripides, Plato, Aristotle, and Kazantzakis, of the many contributions it had made and was still making to scientific and poetic discourse. Near the end, he began to look desperate, and tears appeared in his eyes.

It was then that Old Man Dahlquist asked for the floor. When he rose, there was a respectful silence and concentrated attention. Arne Dahlquist was a legend, loved by many and honored even by the Chinese. He was 90 years old, though, he looked no more than sixty. He was reputed to be the greatest linguist that had ever lived; he could speak fluently every major Indo-European and Ural-Altaic language and many of the lesser. He was conversant in the Kadai-Malayo-Polynesian tongues. He talked well in Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Malayalam, and Burmese, and he could talk at ease with any speaker of Navaho, Apache, Dakota, Ojibway, Cherokee, Nahuatl, Maya, or Quechua.