Jeffrey Carver - Eternity's End

The Narseil made a sound remarkably like a dog’s bark. It was hard to tell if it was a laugh or a snort. “Humans from Faber Eridani come to a Narseil in search of truth? Just what manner of truth were you hoping to find?”

Legroeder sighed. “Truth about a rigger ship from a century ago, and truth about why the Narseil were blamed falsely for her disappearance. We’d hoped to put an end to a longstanding lie. But if you don’t have it, or don’t want to share it—”

“Legroeder,” Harriet interrupted, giving him an annoyed look.

Don’t blame me, Legroeder mouthed.

“I see,” said El’ken. “If it’s Impris you want to know about, and if you were sent here by Robert McGinnis, as your message said, then perhaps indeed we can talk.” The Narseil’s head vanished with a splash. A few seconds later, he reappeared at the near edge of the pool. “No need to hang back. You may approach.”

The three walked across the gravel border as El’ken rose to his waist in the water. “I have not been able to reach Robert McGinnis, these last two days. Do you know if something is wrong?”

“Very wrong, I am sorry to say,” Harriet answered. “He died in a fire at his estate, three Fabri days ago. We believe the fire was deliberately set. But we don’t know by whom.”

El’ken stared at her with dark eyes. “That is most distressing news.” A flutter went down the crest, or sail, on his neck. His eyes sharpened as he studied Harriet. “You knew him well, then?”

“We had only just met.”

“But even so, he sent you here to see me?” El’ken angled a glance at Legroeder, and seemed to focus on the rigger for a long moment.

It was Harriet who answered. “He said, if we wanted to know the truth about what had happened between the Narseil and Centrist Worlds, we should go see El’ken the historian.”

El’ken continued to study Legroeder appraisingly. “And why do you wish to know these things?” He sank slowly up to his neck again in the water, as if he might dismiss them.

Legroeder lost his patience. “Because no one believes in Impris !” he exploded. “And I’m being framed for piracy because of it! Your people were blamed for the loss of Impris —but I’ve seen her! I know she’s alive!”

El’ken suddenly rose again, dripping. “Yes? And what about the history books?”

“Damn the history books! Even the Fandrang report doesn’t say a thing about the Narseil and Impris .”

“You’ve read the Fandrang report, then?”

“Read it? We have it!”

“You have the Fandrang—”

“McGinnis gave it to us for safekeeping. He also told us to come to you if we wanted to learn more.”

Harriet added, “Mr. McGinnis seemed to be expecting trouble. He sent us away with some urgency.”

“I might add,” interjected Morgan, “that someone on Faber Eridani seems extremely upset about all this. They tried to kill my mother and Legroeder.”

El’ken’s eyes gleamed in obvious fascination as he shifted his gaze from one speaker to the next.

“We would be happy to make a copy of the report available to you,” said Harriet.

“Unnecessary. But thank you.”

“You already have it?”

“Let’s just say that I have seen it.” The Narseil stepped suddenly out of the water and onto the gravel floor. As he stood dripping, a soft whoosh came from the floor, and he remained still as a warm draft of air dried him. “I think,” he said, pulling a silken, split-backed robe over his shoulders, “that it is time you told me all that you know. And then, perhaps, we can talk about what you would like to know.”

Legroeder felt a chill as he gazed back at the Narseil. There was a glint in El’ken’s eyes that suggested that what he had to say would not be reassuring, not at all.

El’ken sent away the Narseil guides and pointed to the bench seats. Harriet began the story, but after laying the groundwork, turned the narrative over to Legroeder. El’ken was not a patient listener; he kept interrupting and asking for more information—first, about their trip to McGinnis’s, why they had gone there, why their visit had been so abruptly terminated. Then about Impris . And about the pirates, and Legroeder’s escape.

Legroeder had not expected El’ken to be especially interested in his time with the pirates, but in fact the old Narseil’s eyes seemed to grow clearer and more intense as he came to that part of his story. El’ken leaned forward, his paper-thin neck-sail rustling in the air. “You must tell me more about this pirate culture,” he said, seeming to forget all about what his guests had come to ask him.

“Well, certainly, but—” Legroeder hesitated “—later, perhaps? Right now, we’re very concerned about Impris , and what the loss of that ship meant to the Narseil.”

El’ken stared at him for a moment with his large, green-yellow eyes. Then he made a wheezing sound and said, “Very well. I will do the telling, for now.”

For a moment, there was hardly a sound in the chamber except the chuckling and stirring of water in the pool. The old Narseil leaned back and looked up through the dome at the stars. “So much history,” he sighed. “So many years, and so much… truth lost.” He peered at Legroeder, his eyes burning. “Do you want to know the truth—not just about Impris , but about why my people and yours were the losers in the War of a Thousand Suns?”

Legroeder frowned in puzzlement. “I’m not sure what you mean. I always thought that the Narseil mostly kept out of the war. Wasn’t it just between human worlds? McGinnis implied there was more to it, but he never finished telling us—”

El’ken interrupted him with a loud hiss, his sail quivering with anger. “Your ignorance is appalling .”

Legroeder drew back, stung.

“But at least you are willing to admit it, and that is in your favor,” the Narseil added. He rose, shaking like a leaf on a tree. “I will tell you what I can. Since Robert McGinnis seems to have paid for it with his life.”

Legroeder took a shallow breath, saying nothing.

El’ken walked alongside his desk, touching book ends and compad controls. He made a sound through his gills that was equal parts rumble and sigh. “I have spent my life trying to establish the truth, and to record it so that others may one day benefit from it. Too many of my own people don’t even know it. But your people—” The Narseil turned back to his guests. “The only Human I ever knew who cared about the truth of those days was Robert McGinnis. And he struggled against terrible obstacles to keep his work alive. Terrible obstacles. Do you know what I refer to?”

Legroeder shook his head.

“He did not tell you?” El’ken said. “No, I suppose he would not. Or could not. Something happened that kept him from finishing with you. Hssss.” The Narseil returned to his bench seat. “Let me tell you a story about Robert McGinnis, and how as a young man he served in the Centrist Worlds Navy.”

“As a space marine, yes?” Legroeder said.

“Hssssh, do not interrupt! This human named Robert served on a warship that was sent to fight against an incursion of pirates in the region of the Great Barrier Nebula. In those days, there was an effort to combat the pirates—back before the Centrist Worlds lost their spine and integrity, and surrendered the region to the raiders. Young Robert’s ship engaged the pirates and fought a great battle—but in the end, they were outnumbered and outgunned. They were neither captured nor destroyed, though. Instead, they were left adrift. And their ship drifted into a region of the Flux known as the Sargasso.”