Barry Longyear - Enemy Papers

"You should rest."

The Ovjetah grunted. "Move her. She knows what must be done."

She spoke as the bed-table began moving. "Ovjetah?"

"Yes, Joanne Nicole?"

"Is the screen room tied into the Talman Kovah’s computers, and the USE’s commercial computers?"

"The information from the Talman Kovah is available, but Ambassador Rafiki will not allow the connection to the USE central system."

Nicole nodded once and remained impassive as the bedtable moved down the corridor.

Hurry. Natueh Gi. There is a nightmare to discuss.

Her mind swam, and an image came to her of Storm Mountain and Ted Makai, months before the attack, in the officer’s club…

"Talk to me about Amadeen, Ted."

"Are you one of those who are attracted by the grotesque?"

"I want to understand." Ted Makai moved in his chair, finished his drink, then ordered another. He remained silent.

"Ted, Carver doesn’t talk about Amadeen. Neither do Speidel or Ghadi. No one who served there does."

"Joanne, have you ever had a deathly frightening dream?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever tried to put such a dream into words to tell to another?"

"Yes, I have."

"And has anyone who heard those words ever understood the terror of your dream?"

Nightmares… l would wake in the dark, the end of a scream still on my lips; shaking, the perspiration soaking my hair and bedclothes. As a child. my mother would hug me and smile as I tried to tell her about my experience; years later. Mallik would half-listen to my hysterical tumble of words, then laugh…

"No. They couldn’t understand… they were not there in the same dream."

Makai had nodded. "Now, buy me another drink…"

The moving table turned a corner and Nicole sensed herself enter a larger compartment; the ship’s screen room. The table stopped, and the Chirn Jetah pressed a button, raising the upper end, allowing Nicole to face the others in the room.

And now I have to tell them the nightmare that I saw.

She released Tora Soam’s arm. "No one can be in here except you, Rafiki, Indeva, and myself."

Nicole heard the Chirn Jetah, Natueh Gi, leave the room. Then the Ovjetah spoke to Ambassador Rafiki and Jetah Indeva. "My distinguished guests, it is necessary that all of your guards wait outside," Tora Soam changed the direction of its voice and addressed one of the several Dracs operating the screen room’s consoles. "My apologies, but you and the members of your watch must wait outside."

The Drac operator paused. "Should we shut down the facility before we leave?"

"No. We will need it. Have your watch put the things they are working on now on temporary hold."

"Yes Ovjetah."

As the operators put their stations on hold and left the compartment, the Drac and USEF guard contingents began moving out in almost identical clouds of low muttered curses. When all had gone, the compartment door hissed shut. Ambassador Rafiki walked across the deck, stopping at the foot of Nicole’s bed-table.

"You must be the traitor Moore told me about."

"I am no traitor. As Tora Soam can confirm. I am vemadah. Do you understand the meaning of the term?"

Rafiki answered. "I’ve read The Talman. I’m not sure what difference it makes what label it is one uses to commit treason. Nicole, why am I here?"

"To witness a nightmare, Ambassador. This nightmare will tell you why this war happened and what binds everyone to this war. But to do this, Tora Soam must have access to USE commercial and historical information."

"Impossible."

"Ambassador Rafiki, none of the information we need is classified."

Jetah Indeva walked up and stood next to Tora Soam. "Ovjetah, is the Talman Kovah tied into this complex?"

"Yes."

"And our information will be put on display for this woman?"

"As much of it as is needed."

Indeva noised a grump. "I cannot allow this."

"You have no choice in the matter, Jetah Indeva. I am the Ovjetah of the Talman Kovah. Not even the Dracon Chamber may dictate to me to what use I put information."

Ambassador Rafiki spoke. "Tora Soam, you cannot force me to allow the tie-in."

Nicole interrupted. "No. But there is enough information from the kovah to begin, and in beginning, perhaps, Ambassador Rafiki will see enough to want to learn more." Nicole listened as the Ovjetah took its position before one of the compartment’s screen consoles. She spoke. "Represent upon the screen that portion of space governed by the USE and the Dracon Chamber."

After a few moments, Tora Soam spoke. "This view is from the planet Draco."

Nicole shook her head. "Give us a three-dimensional view centered between Earth and Draco, and make the point of view far enough away from that center that all of the territory can be represented."

"And now?"

"Highlight the planets Earth and Draco."

"It is done."

Nicole pointed toward the screen with her left hand. "This is how things stood almost twenty-one hundred Earth years ago. Humans were still planet-bound, and the Sindie under Poma had just refounded their race upon the planet Draco. Now, Tora Soam, by accelerated time progression, show: the colonizations by both races until the Earth year 2050. Nicole imagined the halo of dots surrounding Draco, then a similar halo surrounding Earth.

After a few moments, Ambassador Rafiki spoke. "And this is in illustration of what?"

"This shows the patterns of colonization prior to the formal establishment of the Ninth Quadrant Federation." She turned toward Tora Soam. "Now continue at a slower progression, bringing us to the present." Nicole spoke as her mind described the dots appearing on the screen. Beginning with the year 2050, the colonization patterns changed. Observe how each pattern seems to reach toward the other." Her mind showed her the patterns aiming at each other, coming to sharp points near the planet called Amadeen.

Tora Soam spoke. "And now?"

"And now, Ovjetah, one of those planets has been colonized by both races. Amadeen. And all seems well until, without warning, the Front and the Mavedah are formed. Before anyone knows what is happening, three hundred worlds are at war. And the war is such that neither side can win; and the problem of the war is such that neither side can quit. The only remaining path seems to be one of mutual destruction. The interplanetary fighting will end when there is nothing to fight with and no one left to do the fighting."

Ambassador Rafiki sighed impatiently. "I see no purpose in history lessons. And there is another path: the treaty worked out by Heliot Vant and myself."

"If that treaty is implemented, Ambassador, the fighting on Amadeen will continue. No police force can hold down a population determined to make war upon itself. The Dracon Chamber has a commitment to support and defend the Mavedah; The United Stales of Earth has a commitment to support and defend the Amadeen Front. And every soldier that fights upon Amadeen brings the infection of war away from the planet to its home."

Tora Soam’s voice turned toward Ambassador Rafiki. "This is true. Until the problem of Amadeen is satisfied, both forces will remain ready, poised to strike. And more-and-more the soldiers behind those triggers will have the horrors of Amadeen in their sights. By accident or by intent, renewed interplanetary war would only be a matter of time." Tora Soam waited for the human to speak, then continued. "Nicole, we see that we are rulebound. Do you see how?"

"Find the major commercial interests involved in planetary colonizations after 2050."

There was a moment, then the Ovjetah spoke. "Nicole, there are hundreds of companies… labor guilds, and immigration organizations."