Barry Longyear - Enemy Papers

As the two clawed creatures attack and pull each other to pieces , the smooth, soft, small, and slow creature escapes.

That night Falna is waiting for me and we make love. I do not conceive, but I make love. For a moment I withdraw, fearing that Falna only pities me. Then I no longer care. I let go, losing myself in the currents of passion and gentle affection.

In the morning Davidge comes to my quarters. I expect him to make some comment regarding Falna’s presence and demonstrations of affection for me, but the human says nothing. Falna gets tea for all of us as, from my couch, I tell Davidge the story of the two clawed creatures and the creature who was small and soft. I tell him the story about King Jax, Lord Nuba, and the nest master. I tell him the story of the United States of Earth, the Dracon Chamber, and a politician who perceived a threat to its people, Hissied 'do Timan. I tell him the Duoa Jreal, or Insanity Stories, of Mijii of Sindie who burned its own people, of the Zealots of Masada on Earth who slew themselves, of the Balkan, Irish, and Middle East tribal self-immolations. After telling the Timan stories to Davidge, he studies the inside of emptiness for a long time. "So," he says at last, "how do we get the scorpions to stop fighting?"

I do not know what scorpions are, but I assume Davidge is referring to the clawed creatures in the Timan parable. "I do not think we can," I answer.

"Can we get the two scorpions to go after the puffball again?" He glances at me, his forehead growing a frown. "Ro, I have never seen you look so strange."

I hide my face by looking at the image of the log fire. "I think I am coming to appreciate how easily war can be started, and, once begun, how hard it can be to stop." I look back at the human. "We can’t get the scorpions to go after the puffball, as you put it. The puffball, Hissied 'do Timan, is dead."

Falna places my tea in front of me, glances at Davidge, and says, "The original reasons for the fighting have little to do with what is going on now, Uncle. Hissied 'do Timan provided direction and a spark. The holocaust no longer needs the match for its existence."

Davidge frowns and looks from Falna to me. "Explain."

In my mind I pick at the reasons I had for fighting. "I think that with the very first act of violence all of the motives changed and the reasons for continuing the war multiplied. If l ever knew the original reason for the fighting on Amadeen, it is nothing compared to all of the new reasons which are added to daily. The original causes were less than memories before I was born."

"Hissied managed to get the USE and the Dracon Chamber to colonize Amadeen within a few months of each other," says Falna. "Then, after a few years, he arranged a land dispute and some―what do they call it on Earth―hemp justice. The other side retaliated, then the whole thing was fed by they killed my parent and they destroyed my village. "

I nod and continue with, "And they tortured and killed my friends, my lovers…" I shake my head as old feelings splash into my heart. "I wasn’t fighting because of any mining rights or land disputes. I fought because―so many deaths, so many horrors." I look at Davidge and say, "I fought because it was the only way to fight back."

As I say it I know it is insane. The insanity, though, makes the reason no less real, no less powerful. I feel Falna’s comforting hand on my shoulder. As I place my own hand atop Falna’s, Davidge looks away and again explores emptiness with his gaze.

"What is it, Uncle?" asks Falna.

Davidge lifts his hands slightly and lets them drop to the armrests of his chair. "I don’t know. All along I’ve been looking for this magic linchpin that holds everything together. Yank it and we find out who’s trying to kill us and discredit the Koda Nusinda, the solution to the fighting on Amadeen pops up, and we can all go home. Everyone has a motive, though. The Timans want the Koda Nusinda thrown out to keep their secret about the war."

"And about how they survive," I add.

"What about Earth IMPEX?" asks Falna.

Davidge shakes his head. "IMPEX has no motive whatsoever, but there is a political party headquartered on Earth called Black October." He glances at Falna, "Did you ever hear of it?"

Without removing its hand from my shoulder, Falna says, "Certainly. It’s the fourth largest party in the USE-aligned planets." Falna looks down at me. "Black October’s principle objective is to throw out the USE-Dracon Treaty and reenter the fighting on Amadeen supporting the Amadeen Front."

"Kita got a subspace message from Sanda a little while ago," interrupted Davidge. "It looks like Michael Hill might have been a member of Black October. It’s possible, as well, the drill he was using is a forgery. Sanda’s been in touch with the Karnarak and it looks as though the circuit board from the unit in the cave doesn’t match any of the Nisak designs."

"What about the Dracs?" I ask.

I look at Davidge and he is looking at Falna. Removing its hand from my shoulder, Falna sits next to me on the couch and says, "Yes, there is opposition to the Koda Nusinda in the Jetai Diea. It’s small in numbers but vehement in its refusal to have a human-written book in The Talman . Some of their arguments are quite compelling. I was on Earth during most of the debate, however."

"Did you vote?"

"Of course. It was by absentee ballot because I couldn’t leave my studies. I voted to accept The Eyes of Joanne Nicole as the Koda Nusinda."

Davidge stands and thrusts his hands into his jacket pockets. "So everybody has a motive and none of the motives tie directly into the reasons why the fighting continues on Amadeen. The fighting fuels itself regardless of what goes on in the rest of the universe; regardless of what we find out about who is trying to kill us." He rakes an eyebrow at me. "Yazi Ro, I’m beginning to suspect that Shiggy and that Jetah on Amadeen, Zenak Abi, bit off more than we can chew."

The Dakiz’s image hovers over the nest as ghost images of planets and armies drift through our awareness. "A threat that can be divided against itself is rendered a threat no longer. A galaxy-wide coalition of tribes can be divided by the differences between its members: species, beliefs, origins, objectives, allegiances, interests, anything unimportant that can he made to appear important to them."

Step by carefully plotted step we see a unified force cracked then shattered by racism, religious bigotry, political intolerance, and class bias, all the forms of tribal loyalty. How easy it seems, yet there are forces that either cannot be divided ( very rare), or are more efficiently dealt with by drawing them into conflict with a third party.

A powerful species of adventurers, explorers, warriors, and profit-seekers, colonizers of two hundred worlds, are within a few days of racehome and are being considered for membership in the quadrant federation. Their numbers, their power, wealth, energy, and designs could eclipse racehome and drown out racehome’s voice in the quadrant assembly within a generation. The threat is, in this case, so huge and so powerful that dividing it risks producing multiple threats.

Far from racehome there is another species of powerful, wealthy adventurers and profit-seekers. Can their separate designs and interests be led into a conflict of such a nature that the wealth, power, and numbers of both species are reduced to insignificance?

To the Dakiz I send a thought: "The Timans deplore the actions of Hissied 'do Timan in creating the USE-Draco War, yet his crime is used as a lesson in the Ri Mou Tavii ?"

The Dakiz responds, "In your own Talman, Yazi Ro, it is written: 'Are we to ignore a truth revealed through crime because it is somehow tainted, somehow less than truth? Nonsense. Truth is truth. The crime is to ignore truth."