Translation State

Translation State tackles difficult questions about what it means to be a person and how a person can self-determine. At the diplomatic meeting, each group provides a unique perspective on whether Reet should be able to choose to be legally human and what that would mean for him and for others. The non-Radchaai humans, including Reet’s parents, believe that Reet should self-determine because they respect his choices and because they believe that having a narrow definition of “human” is likely to exclude some people, possibly to dangerous effect. The Geck see no issue with Reet’s choosing to be human, especially since there is already a human who is legally Geck. The AIs support Reet’s self-determination because they themselves want to be considered a Significant Species under the Presger Treaty.

On the other hand, Ambassador Seimet does not want Reet to be considered human. Seimet worries that allowing Reet to self-determine could threaten the treaty, and she also believes that allowing him a say in his own personhood would threaten the power of the Radch Empire. The Radch has maintained its hegemonic control over much of the inhabited universe by having strong restrictions on how people can identify and define themselves—for instance, self-understanding through gender is unacceptable—and by limiting the personhood and status of non-Radchaai humans. Reet is a direct threat to that power. The Presger Translators feel similarly about the situation: They want Translator juveniles to be under their exclusive and total control both because of the importance of the treaty and because they use Translator juveniles as pawns in their inter-clade disputes.

Qven’s ability to self-determine is closely tied to Reet’s, especially because if they match, they will become one being. For Qven, becoming legally human is the only way to become free, as self-determination is not an option for Presger Translators. E nearly matches with the Geck’s half-destroyed bio mech on Dlar’s orders, even though doing so might have killed em and would certainly have made it impossible for em to match with Reet. Choosing not to make that ill-advised match is a major turning point for eir character. Self-determination in Translation State is about asserting personhood in opposition to authoritarian structures. For Enae, that structure is hir family and hir Grandmaman, who never gave hir the opportunity to decide what sort of person sie wanted to be. By the end of the story, all three of the protagonists have managed to assert themselves as legally autonomous people.