How Long 'Til Black Future Month?

This story is made up of conversation threads, research reports, and other cultural documents. The first document is the transcript of a digital conversation between Paul and Thandi, two members of the Trade Establishment, a group of researchers studying the Manka people. Paul asks for Thandi’s “help” with an upcoming vote, but she tells him to “[s]tay the hell away,” citing his “expire[d …] Spermicet patch” and disrespect for her career (197). She asks him what he thinks happened to the missing member of their team. The next document is a transcript of a conversation between Aihua, a member of the Trade Establishment, and a Manka evaluator (198). There is some disconnect between the two because they speak different languages, but the evaluator can communicate well enough in Aihua’s language that most meaning is not lost. Aihua asks the evaluator why they evaluate. The evaluator seems unsure of how to answer, but makes it clear that the purpose is more complicated than simply for “the improvement” of what is being evaluated (199).

The following document is a post created by the Trade Establishment, noting that the Manka look like cheetahs and have three sexes. The next document is another post made by the Trade Establishment, but this post curses the First Contact team—another team of researchers—for telling the Manka about Christianity. The next document is from First Contact’s records and includes lyrics to a Manka song equating love with fear. The document which follows is a transcript between John Rafkind, the First Contact member who told the Manka about Christianity, and a Manka man named Hashish. In it, John tries to convey the bad vibes he feels when one of the evaluators walks by him. Like Aihua, he can’t seem to get a clear answer from the Manka about why the evaluators exist.

Next, there is a post from a Trade Establishment member named Angela, who describes her team’s recent discovery that the Manka have burial pits where the corpses are not kept intact but broken down into bones and stored by type. Following that, an exchange between Aihua and an evaluator is recorded. Aihua is concerned about the evaluator’s attempts to change into a human, which clearly have involved some off-color practices. The evaluator asks Aihua why she has no offspring and Aihua explains that due to overpopulation on Earth she has chosen not to procreate.

The next document is an “official” release made by a member of the First Contact team (206). It explains that the Manka’s home, Dar-Mankana, has been suffering from a depletion of species, though it’s unclear why this is. The possibility of a “superpredator” is tossed around (206).

Following that, there is a brief note from a member of First Contact which rejects the possibility that a “crater” could have caused Dar-Mankana’s species depletion (207). A thread follows between members of the Trade Establishment team. They argue over why the Manka have been able to maintain a balance between population and resources, then over why the Manka are obsessed with the number four.

Another thread follows between Thandi and Dr. Wu—someone who studied with Aihua. Thandi tells Dr. Wu she agrees with the suggestion that the First Contact team and the Trade Establishment team should join forces. She asks Dr. Wu to remember if Aihua was ever “lonely” (209). This clip is followed by a conversation between Aihua and an evaluator in which Aihua realizes that evaluator is the Manka’s fourth sex, in addition to male, female, and nurturer.

The next document is an email between members of the Trade Establishment in which a theory is set forth that the evaluators’ job is to evaluate children and decide who is worth keeping alive and who is not. By culling the children in this way the Manka have been able to establish a perfect population-to-resources ratio. The penultimate document is a conversation between Paul and Thandi in which Thandi insists that Aihua is still alive somewhere. The last document is a Trade Establishment press release thanking the Manka for keeping Aihua alive while she was in their custody. They announce that she died as a result of giving birth to a half Manka, half Earth child and that they plan on raising the child in honor of their “legacy” (213).