Ekaterina Elanora Ribeira von Hesse, more commonly known as Ela, was a Xenobiologist on the planet of Lusitania.[2] She was first introduced in Speaker for the Dead.
History[]
Speaker for the Dead[]
Ela was born one year after Miro and did much of the work around the house since her mother Novinha was frequently distracted or busy with other work. Ela was 18 when her "father" Marcos Maria Ribeira died and she requested a Speaker for the Dead, to show the world what a terrible person Marcos was.[2]
She requested a Speaker six weeks before Andrew Wiggin arrived on Lusitania. Ela was a very knowledgeable xenobiologist who worked closely with her mother, although there were many secrets between them. Ela explained most of what she knew about the biology of Lusitania to the Speaker, including some of her theories. Ela was among the first group of humans, the others being Andrew and Ouanda, to actually see the Pequenino “wives” and learn about their reproduction process.[2]
Xenocide[]
Ela later developed the design of the Recolada counter-virus to the Descolada, and created it Outside.[3]
The Last Shadow[]
Ela continued to work on the Descolada problem. She and Quara bickered about the ethics of observing Descoladora with The Box over text, which was quoted later in Plikt's work "The Ribeira Family Saves the World".[1]
When Brussels 'Sprout' Delphiki returned from Descoladora, he explained that he had met a man with ape-like features named Ruqyaq, who explained that the residents of the planet, which they called Nest, originally came from Earth after the First Formic War and modified themselves during the non-relatavistic journey into a subspecies called the Yachachiyruna or Engineers, and that the birds had bred intelligence into themselves. Jane conversed with Thulium about the discovery and Thulium expressed heavy doubt. Jane, with access to ancient databases, confirmed the existence of the Quispe clan and the ship Ark.[1]
Jane collected Thulium Delphiki, Peter Wiggin II, Si Wang-mu, Miro, Ela and Quara Ribeira, the Raven Dog, along with 3 Pequeninos and 3 Formic workers to meet with Sprout. With everybody assembled, they watched the video recordings that a Yachachi had made of Sprout's activities on Nest. After seeing proof, Ela said that she would not have called the meeting if she knew the proof existed. Thulium asked Jane if Sprout had developed the ability of Outside-in travel, which she confirmed. Jane also explained that Outside-in travel came easily to Leguminids, as well as Peter, Wang-mu and Miro, but that the Hive Queen of Shakespeare had told her that most lacked the ability to bring anything except themselves through. Dog expressed disappointment over this, but Sprout explained that it would be disastrous if all Keas learned how to and created chaos on all the worlds. Jane expressed a desire to meet the Runa, the normal humans of Nest, and Dog said that she would set up a meeting. Sprout asked Dog if he did a good job meeting the Yachachi, and Dog said that they could not have chosen a better emissary. The Pequenino Fingers talked with Dog about helping them proccess the data in the video, and explained that his name was Fingers (digits) because he was good with computers.[1]
After the discovery that the Descolada was seemingly a damaged version of the Recorder virus found on Nest, Ela and Quara discussed the revelation in The Box. They discussed the specific genes that had been damaged, and about the intentions of the Makers of the Recorder. Their conversation was later quoted in "Conversations in the Box".[1]
Some time later, a meeting was called for all members of the Descolada Project, where they discussed the discovery of the Recorder virus being a precursor to the Descolada, and about the intentions of the Makers of the Recorder. Jane also mentioned that the Folk had invited the Lusitanians to a banquet that night, and they hypothesized that it was a trap. Peter II and Wang-mu refused to go with them, citing that Dog had given them a hint that they would be harmed by the Folk and that Wang-mu was pregnant. Mazer 'Boss' Delphiki mentioned that they should come up with a name for instantaneous travel, and Petra 'Little Mum' Delphiki suggested that they name it Detouring. Jane asked for a show of hands of who would go meet the Folk, and everybody except for Peter and Wang-mu volunteered. Sergeant suggested they bring armaments but Ender discouraged it, and Jane said that the instant conflict occured they would leave. Sprout asked why there were no Formics or Pequeninos at the meeting, and Jane explained that the Fathertrees and Hive Queens banned their children from going to Nest. Ela explained that they would address the Folk by explaining that they planned to leave Nest for good after the banquet, with the assurance that they would not add their world to any database or atlas. Sprout suggested that they bring breeding pairs of Keas and Ravens, and the rest said that if they wanted to come they could take them to the Lusitanian Colonies. Peter then demanded that they leave Sergeant behind due to his hostile nature, fearing an incident with the Folk, however Jane and the rest saw no reason to leave him. The group also noted Thulium was not present, and Jane expected to find her on Nest.[1]
The group then Detoured to a spot near the ocean on Nest. The Kea Royal Son greeted them and explained that he and other Keas would guide them to the Folk. The group came to a doorway built into a recessed place in a rocky cliff, and the door opened automatically. They entered into a room that turned out to be an elevator, and it lowered them down a long time. The elevator opened into a large room, and The Folk made introductions to the adults of the group but ignored the children. Far back in the room they saw several highly elaborate chairs in the middle, one of which was occupied by Thulium. One of the Folk said that Thulium had brought her friends as promised, and asked her to introduce them to the Folk. As she listed their names, a spotlight shone on each one as though the Folk knew their names. The group was invited to sit down, but Sprout snuck over to Thulium and noticed that they had her face thickly caked with makeup that looked chalky, but noticed some bumps Thulium usually did not have. Sprout scraped away the layer of white, which fell off and uncovered dozens of small blisters, and a clear fluid had burst out of them. Sprout called out to Jane and showed her the blisters. A few Folk moved to try to intercept Jane, and some of what looked to be the Folk's highest officers looked cheerful, as if they had already won a war that wasn't supposed to start. Jane Detoured everybody back to the Q-Bay. Sprout and Jane talked to Thulium and she explained that she had gone yesterday to the Folk, and the blisters appeared that morning when she woke up. They began to examine the microorganisms to find out how to cure it.[1]
Miro told the group that Sprout had suggested that the biological weapon could be a plague on Nest that the Folk had become immune to, and they suggested getting a live sample to look at it. Carlotta Delphiki used a scalpel to scrape an infinitesimally thin patch from the inside of her wrist. After 6 hours of examinations, it ended up looking like a parasite. Jane mentioned that the Hive Queen had requested to see Thulium before she died, and soon after Jane, Thulium, and Sprout had Detoured away. When they returned, Thulium apolgized for her actions and Jane explained the cure to those in the room. Sprout was treated first and it was done in half an hour. Jane sent people out of the building as soon as their cure was complete.[1]
When Peter and Wang-mu came back from Nest, they brought 2 dead Keas with them, as it seemed that hundreds had died. Those in the Q-Bay investigated the cause but nothing turned up, it seemed as though the birds just died. Miro said that they should return, but in a Box for any birds to escape into. They filled it with roosts and sent it to Nest. Peter and Wang-Mu walked toward the Council trees, where Ruqyaq emerged, and he asked if they could take Keas and Ravens to escape. Ruqyaq explained that the weapon was a combination of ultrasound and infrasound, that he had designed for riot control twenty years ago. Ruqyaq took them to an area with some Keas and Ravens still alive, and Sprout invited them into the Box. Jane sent the Box full with birds back and forth dozens of times. Eventually there was no birds left except for a few that hovered off in the distance, apparently with no wish to go even under threat of death. Then the Yachachi emerged from the trees, and Jane teleported them away, and the group Detoured back to the Q-Bay.[1]
The group then went to the meadow to sort the birds. Jane told them to divide themselves into their breeding populations, then instructed the Keas to form a group who wanted to be alone and a group that wished to be with the Ravens, as they could not be trusted with humans. One by one the patches of birds disappeared as Jane sent them to the colonies. The Yachachi sat on the edge, and Ruqyaq asked Jane if they could stay on Lusitania, but she said no as the only trees on Lusitania were the sacred Fathertrees. Jane also instructed them to make clothes for themselves, so they asked to stay for a few more days.[1]
A week later, Jane, Ela, Quara, and Thulium discussed the Recorder. Quara proposed that the Folk had weaponized the Recorder deliberately, and insisted that they continue to look for the source. However, the rest of the group thought that they had all the data they needed and simply needed to conduct tests. As they began experiments, some could only be performed in computer simulations, as the Descolada was too virulent and too intelligent for experiments with the actual virus to be safe. They were able to confirm that each break would result in Descolada-like behaviors, but only when both were broken did the Recorder become Descolada. It was looking like the Recorder was deliberately turned into a bioweapon. Delft Delphiki proposed that they put the Recorder in a vacuum chamber to test if it could survive in space. After the test, it seemed that in a vacuum, the Recorder would fold itself repeatedly like a fan. Instead of the break points in the Descolada being two among billions of genes, they were two among 88 genes exposed and weakened at the fold points. Thus, the group reasoned that the Descolada was due to radiation damage, and not a bioweapon.[1]
Everyone agreed that they needed to send a paper demonstrating the differences between Recorder and Descolada, how the Descolada on Lusitania was neutralized, and describing the behavior of Recorder in a vacuum. They put the names of the entire research team, including those of the Pequeninos who had worked with them. The Formics who had been part of the project had no names, and they could not reveal the existence of Formics anyway. Ela's name came first, as head of the team. Jane also asked Plikt and Valentine to write monographs that included accounts of the work of the Ribeira family and the Leguminids. Jane was never mentioned; nor was Detouring; and no account mentioned Nest. Jane declared the Descolada project to be at an end, as they had disseminated a course of action for any world that ran across a mutated Recorder virus.[1]