If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem
Creating If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem is a story written by shukyou and illustrated by beili. It ran in Issue 86 at https://www.shousetsubangbang.com/mirror/if-i-forget-thee-o-jerusalem/.
Summary
Shayel began to mutter something under his breath as the ship hit the atmosphere, something in Hallic that Uzhab couldn’t understand. Uzhab chose not to interpret it as a critique of his piloting skills. “Switching engines,” Uzhab said, pulling the lever that toggled off the propulsion system that had ferried them from the carrier to Aubor IV. The small ship shuddered violently. “How’s the air?”
Two men from alien races with a long and violent history try to bring an abandoned colony world back to life.
Author's Notes
The title of this piece is taken from Psalm 137 — it’s the ‘by the rivers of Babylon’ one — which is a psalm of longing for a home you’ve been kicked out of, even if it’s a home you’ve never seen. To put it in a historical context, it’s a psalm from the Babylonian Exile period of biblical history, where the Israelites (or at least the literate ones) had been taken away to Babylon and not permitted to return. Another shining example of my using my education NOT for its intended purposes!
The moral of this piece is NOT supposed to be how the children of oppressors and children of the oppressed can get along just fine, so forget the past! Uzhab (and all the other Doqar like him) only get to where they are because they’ve renounced their privilege. They have reckoned individually with their heritage, because their culture isn’t going to do it anytime soon. It doesn’t make them perfect, but it makes them capable of learning.
The Doqar and Halla are of course VERY Star Trek aliens — you know, they’ve got essentially human body structures with some prosthetics glued on, they’ve got compatible genes so they can have babies together, they’ve got (mostly) binary genders that include men with penises, they’ve got similar concepts of measurement, and so on and so forth. This is 100% because if I’d gone all wacky with alien worldbuilding, we would’ve been here all night. I’ve already got my nose up against the ceiling of the word limit. Forgive any shorthanding.
Much love to beili, who not only did the gorgeous illustration, but walked me through some of the initial brainstorming. I have had to rush so many of my SSBB pieces lately, I wanted to start this one early and try and make something I could really be proud of. It was great to work this out in advance, and also great to have such a pretty picture waiting for me as a reward for finishing.
