Barry Longyear - Enemy Papers

I turn from the window and face Ty. "I don’t understand."

"What it amounts to is that this man wants to know if anyone, most likely you, did a probe on the Yazi line name."

"Is there some way to hide my inquiry?"

Ty shakes its head. "No. All of this―the line histories, the names of those who file requests―is public information. Michael Hill has already been notified that you did a probe on your line. Might he be a danger?"

I lower myself into a chair facing Ty. "Your parent said that it has done business with Michael Hill for years. Zammis said that Hill is well respected."

"Perhaps it’s just curiosity concerning a chance encounter on board a ship."

I think back and recall that face in my mind. For a human it is a handsome, pleasant face. Honest, hiding nothing. Perhaps it is just curiosity. Those who travel far from home may need things with which to occupy their time. Still, the man might be the descendant of someone in the Amadeen Front or the USE Force who thinks he has a debt to collect against Dracs of the Yazi line. He was on Draco at the same time I was. Perhaps Michael Hill has some interest in the Jetai Diea’s charge that sent me on my mission to Friendship.

"Does Hill know where I am staying? Is that information public, as well?"

"It’s not public information, Ro, but having Jeriba Zammis pick you up at the port effectively announced to the entire population of First Colony where you are staying. With your permission, I will have my parent look into the matter of Michael Hill." Ty looks up at me and smiles as it hands me a copy of my line probe. "If Uncle had you learn your line, the next thing he’ll want is for you to memorize it. Then The Talman. Before he’s finished he will have you in front of your line’s archives reciting line and book."

In my rooms I look at the copy of my line. Eleven names is all. If I had been born into the Jeriba line I would have had to memorize over two hundred histories, as well as The Talman . What a fantasy it is: Yazi Ro, filled with knowledge, reciting line and book in front of the Yazi Archives, my human Jetah standing with me as I receive the belated robes of adulthood.

My line is missing a few histories, though; the Yazi archives are smashed and in Front-controlled territory on Amadeen, while my Jetah, Uncle Willy, is safe in his cave beneath Friendship’s protective clouds. Still it is a nice fantasy. I take the paper and read from it, my tongue wrestling around the ancient, unfamiliar sounds of formal Dracon.

Before you here I stand, Ro of the line of Yazi, born of Avo, the teacher of English…

I stop as I realize the hopelessness of it all. I do not know if Avo itself stood the rites, and if so, when. There is so much missing. A great weariness fills me and I lie on the bed, close my eyes, and, just before I search my usual nightmares, I see Estone Falna as it was at the repast, strong, witty, smart, full of fun. A longing begins in me that I extinguish as soon as I know what it is, because it can never be.

…I hear a dog. The night is cold, Amadeen’s moon huge and bright in the sky . The dog is whimpering, begging for an end to its pain. Except for the dog, it is quiet, the fighting and bombing at an end for now. Inside the bombed-out structure, Avo is sitting in a shadow looking across the street, its eyes wet with tears.

"Avo?" I call from its side where I have been trying to sleep. "Avo, what is wrong? Are they coming again?"

"No, child. They are gone for now."

I reach up and touch my parent’s cheek. "Why do you cry?"

Avo nods at the ruins across the street. "Do you remember the building that once stood there?"

"No."

"You were just born, I suppose, when it was last used. The Mavedah stored supplies there until the building was destroyed completely by a Front bombing. Before that, when I was a child, it was a hospital." Avo looks down at me. "My parent once told me that very long ago, before the war, your nameparent’s nameparent had a business there where it sold food and many other things."

My parent returns its gaze to the ruin. "Yazi Tahl told me that Dracs and humans both shopped there, and that your nameparent’s nameparent even worked with a human in the business." Its head lowers until Avo’s chin rests on its chest. "I don’t know if I believe that," it says, "though I always thought of this building with a special warmth, until it was destroyed. Now it makes me sad."

I do not know why Avo cries. It is, after all, just a pile of rubble. I wrap my arms around my parent and urge it to stop crying. Avo places an arm around me and continues to look at the ruin. It still looks as I close my eyes. The dog is silent and I sleep.

I awaken with an acrid smell of smoke in my nostrils. At the moment I realize the smell is no dream I sit up and open my eyes. Davidge is sitting in a chair in front of the window wall, looking at the view. The smoky smell comes from his clothes. I stand and walk toward him. As I do I see the sight that holds the human’s attention. Great streams of black smoke come from the point, blown back toward the mountains by the winds.

"Davidge?"

He turns his head and faces me. His skin is smudged with soot, soot rings his nostrils, and his eyes are very red. "You’re awake,"

"Obviously." I point toward the smoke. "What happened?"

The human looks back toward the point, his eyes on the past. "Someone came into the cave last night and set fire to the place. I was in the back getting something to eat." He seems to nibble at the insides of his lips as tension makes his jaw muscles pulse. "When I came back to the main chamber, I saw him. A fire was already started in the woodpile and he was tinkering at some sort of device. I picked up a piece of wood and came up on him from behind. He turned just before I struck and I caught his head and an arm. Whatever kind of bomb he set fully ignited then and filled the cave with smoke and intense heat. The man got away from me and all I could think of was making sure that Haesni was safe."

"Is Haesni safe?"

"Yes. A sore throat from the smoke, scared, but other than that, okay." Davidge stands and faces me. "Haesni was in the back chamber. We had to cover our eyes and feel our way through the main chamber, the smoke was so thick. Once we made it out of the mouth of the cave we came to the house." He looks around at the room and says more to himself than to me, "After all these years, they’re finally going to get me to sleep in the house."

"Was there any sign of the intruder?"

Davidge nodded. "Ty had the retainers arm themselves and search for the fire bug. They were at it for the rest of the night. At first light Alri Gan found the bastard at the bottom of the cliff below the cave entrance. Looks like he didn’t quite make that first turn."

Davidge narrows his eyes and studies me. "Ty, Zammis, and I climbed down to the base of the cliff to look. Jeriba Zammis knows the dead man. Before he splashed on the rocks, he called himself Michael Hill."

I feel my eyes widening at the name. "The man I met on the ship? The IMPEX representative?"

"Yes. Ty told me about your experience; also about Hill’s interest in your line probe. You have any idea why he might want to kill me or Haesni?"

I remember the stars, that face, the compassion in his voice. That strange joke: If you want to hear God laugh, make a plan. I think back and remember the cliff, the height of it, the broken boulders at its foot. Michael Hill had a long opportunity of understanding before he reached those water-washed boulders.

I have seen my enemies come at me many ways, everything from shooting to begging. Compassion is an unexpected stratagem.

"Davidge, on the ship from the Amadeen orbiter it was not a closely held secret that I was smuggled off Amadeen. On Draco, almost the entire Jetai Diea knew I was Mavedah, as well as an unknown number of clerks, masters, and others." I look down as I think about the man in the wheelchair. Matope. Something mean and bitter crawls into my heart. "Perhaps still others."