The Web and the Stars

by Brian Herbert

  “On the contrary, there is a certain emphasis, a weightiness to what he is saying. Our diplomatic people have examined it carefully, and there is no doubt. He is asking about your welfare, and wants to see you.”

  “Well, maybe you’re right.” Tesh smiled stiffly. “After all, I am not without certain charms. But I must discuss something else with you, something of far greater consequence than the fates of two people in a huge, crumbling galaxy.”

  Eshaz nodded solemnly. “Proceed.”

  The Parvii woman had something very important to say, one of the secrets of her race. She struggled to express herself, having practiced how she might say this, but faltered under the enormous gravity of all the warnings she and her ancestors had received against revealing such information. Finally she paused, unable to get the words out the way she wanted.

  Reaching across the table, Eshaz made contact with the crackling energy field that was Tesh’s second skin, touching her projection-enlarged left hand. In performing this truthing touch, he absorbed her thoughts as Tulyans could do with another galactic race … but she knew he still didn’t obtain the information she had to reveal to him. She sighed deeply, trying to calm herself.

  Presently Tesh told him without speaking, My people are very aggressive, with angry tempers. You Tulyans may have won a battle with your newfound telepathic powers, your mindlink. But you have stirred up a huge hornet’s nest, and the Parvii potential is much greater than yours. We have rapid breeding methods, and the capacity to use the most devastating psychic weapons in the galaxy, with the concentrated focal power of millions of Parviis at a time. In ancient times, my people employed these devices against Tulyans and other races, destroying entire fleets and planets.

  She paused, letting the information sink in. He didn’t transmit any thought response, or say anything, as if he knew she still had more to say.

  Continuing her internal monologue, she told him, The ancient knowledge is still available, held in sacred reserve by our war priests. As you know, I am an outcast, no longer in contact with Woldn’s morphic field, but I still sense that something big is brewing. I know my people well, and what the legends say we will do in a time of dire need. At this very moment they have sought sanctuary in the Parvii Fold, where breedmasters and war priests are working together for a retaliatory strike.

  Now Eshaz pulled back. His gray, slitted eyes flashed with alarm. “This is very disturbing.”

  She spoke, too. “A great deal is at stake. I want you to accompany me on a diplomatic mission to the Parvii Fold, before my people can regenerate and mount a counterattack. We must convince Woldn that war between our races is suicidal, and.…”

  “And that we need to work together to preserve and repair the galactic infrastructure of Timeweb,” he said, interrupting. “Tulyans and Parviis must use the entire podship fleet cooperatively for the most massive project in history. Thousands of ships to transport repair teams all over the galaxy, to as many trouble spots as possible. For the sake of harmony, Parviis can pilot the ships, while Tulyans such as yourself can perform the web repairs.”

  “You and I are beginning to understand each other,” she said with a slight smile. “Let’s hope it bodes well for the others we must convince.”

  “You would return to the Parvii Fold?” Eshaz whispered to her. “But you are an outcast, forbidden from returning to your people.”

  “I must risk everything, as all of us must. The stakes are too high for any concerns about personal safety. Yes, I would do that, and much more.”

  Finally, Eshaz sat back, and stared across the table at her.

  She pushed the cocaxy drink away.

  “I will seek the advice of the Council,” he said.

  Eshaz requested an emergency meeting with the Elders, and they assented. He told them Tesh’s story, and her astounding proposal. A short while later they summoned her before them, and listened attentively to the details. She told them she wanted Eshaz to accompany her to the Parvii Fold, perhaps with a diplomatic team of Tulyans. Then she clasped her hands in front of herself, awaiting their decision.

  “You say you want Parvii pilots to transport podships around the galaxy, containing teams of Tulyan repair teams,” First Elder Kre’n said, after a brief conference with the other Elders. The Tulyan leader paused, as if expecting a response.

  “That’s right,” Tesh said, filling in the quiet that had fallen across the great chamber.

  “Tulyans and Parviis can never work together in a meaningful way,” Kre’n declared. “We agree that web repairs are needed, but for that we don’t need Parviis at all. We can pilot podships and do the infrastructure repairs. Your request is denied.”

  “But you are in grave danger!”

  “So are we all.” Kre’n waved an arm dismissively. “You have our permission to leave the starcloud on your ‘diplomatic mission,’ but alone. It will serve no purpose for any Tulyans to accompany you, as it could inflame the passions of Woldn in an unproductive way.”

  “Not even Eshaz? Woldn knows him.”

  Eshaz grabbed her by the arm, squeezing it. “Don’t argue with the Elders.”

  She pulled away. “I’m not. I’m just.…”

  “Their decisions are carefully thought out,” Eshaz said, “and based on reasons you could never understand.” He glanced up at their unsmiling faces, then back at her. “The Elders will not reconsider.”

  He escorted her forcefully out of the chamber.

  “Your people can never defend against a Parvii telepathic onslaught,” she said, in the corridor outside. “You have no concept of the terrible destructive force that war priests can generate. They have a focal weapon, drawing upon the primal energies of the universe.”

  His eyes widened. “I have heard stories of such a thing, legends. But we have a highly advanced form of mindlink now, which we didn’t have in the old days. We will not fall so easily.”

  “But why risk a battle with the Parviis? No matter how it goes, it will be a waste of valuable time and resources.”

  “Go quickly,” Eshaz said, as they reached the smooth plax deck outside. “I will remain here with my people in our small moment of triumph and renewal, working with the few hundred wild podships we have, practicing with them on the podways that are protected by the starcloud.”

  “Your moment of triumph will not last long.” She narrowed her eyes. “Is that all you’re going to say to me? Just go, and good luck to you? Don’t you understand the immensity of this?”

  “The Council has spoken. We must do as they command.”

  “You’ve argued with them before.”

  “I’ve tried to persuade them of certain things. But after working with them for so long, I know when it is utterly hopeless, and when it is certain to raise their ire. I must say, they don’t trust you, don’t really believe you. The truthing touch did not reveal any of this additional information, so they’re assuming it’s an insidious Parvii trick, and they wonder what else you might have hidden. They would rather spend their time and energy on shoring up the defenses here.”

  “I’m very worried about this. Woldn is going to strike back, using ancient weapons.”

  “With the stakes so high, we won’t be routed easily.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Tesh said. “But won’t you come with me?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “For reasons you can never understand. Now go! You’re wasting time.”

  While packing her things and readying for departure, Tesh heard a rap at her door. Touching a remote pad to open it, she greeted Acey and Dux.

  “Eshaz told us about your diplomatic mission,” Dux said. “Let us go with you.”

  She frowned. “For the sake of adventure, or to really help?” she asked.

  “I don’t think I can give you a good answer to that,” Dux admitted. “If I say what you want to hear, you’ll think I’m lying.”

  “That’s about the only thing you could have said to please
me,” she said, with a grin that flashed white teeth.

  “We won’t get in the way,” Acey promised. “We just want to go with you as your friends.”

  “Be careful,” she said. “You might say something that doesn’t sound sincere.”

  Acey looked crestfallen, and Tesh added quickly, “I would like both of you to come along as my friends. I appreciate your devotion, and I’ve come to believe that all the races must work together. Woldn will not be pleased to see you, but such contacts must begin someplace.”

  “So we are emissaries?” Dux asked.

  “Isn’t every member of every race, whenever they come into contact with another galactic species.” Looking both boys over, Tesh added, “You couldn’t possibly be spies.”

  “Do you include the Mutatis in your vision of races working together?” Dux asked.

  “Well, perhaps there are exceptions,” she said, with a small smile. “You must be on your very best behavior, though, and the trip will be dangerous. There are tremendous perils on the way to the Parvii Fold, and as I told you I am an outcast, forbidden to mix with my people ever again.”

  Dux, who could wax philosophical at times, responded, “Safety is never more than an illusion anyway, no matter where … or who … you are.”

  “I travel light,” she said, in a cheery voice. “How about you guys?”

  “We’re ready!” Acey said.…

  Eshaz secured the necessary departure permission from the Council for the last-minute inclusion of the teenage boys. The Elders were only too happy to let the Parvii woman go, along with the Humans.

  “Even assuming the best about her, she is on a fool’s mission,” Dabiggio said.

  “So it seems,” Kre’n said, wrinkling her bronze-scaled face in worry. “But what if we’re wrong?”

  “Not even worth considering,” the big Tulyan responded.

  In the tension of the Council Chamber, Eshaz wisely remained silent, then bowed and left.

  After delivering the clearance to Tesh, Eshaz caught a shuttle home. On the way, he saw her podship slide away from its docking bay and head into space. The sentient craft accelerated, and vanished in a flash of green light.

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  It is a deadly, ancient clash of inbred racial purposes, those of the Tulyans and those of the Parviis. And at the middle of their conflict is yet another race, the Aopoddae, the most enigmatic of all … and perhaps the most important.

  —Noah Watanabe, Reflections on my Life, Guardian Publications

  On board the podship, Tesh left the teenagers in the passenger compartment, then entered the sectoid chamber by herself. The boys understood in general terms that she was piloting the ship, and had asked her for details, but she avoided telling them very much. They were her friends, but she had not felt comfortable discussing certain subjects with them yet, things that she had been taught from an early age were important Parvii secrets.

  Already, she had gone farther than any Parvii was permitted. If Woldn learned what she told the Tulyans, she could be put to death, but the galactic stakes were so high that she had to take the chance. Secrets. She was beginning to think it was a dirty word, and a tool with which she and others like her had been controlled for so long.

  Tesh was violating another prohibition now, in taking the boys to the Parvii Fold. Oh, she had excuses worked out in her mind for Woldn, that the Human teenagers were Guardians as she was, and they were working with her to maintain the integrity of the galactic web. This was all true, but she would have to do a lot of smooth talking to convince the Eye of the Swarm. There was also the matter of the Tulyan she had befriended, an alien who had been facing similar challenges regarding his own racial secrets. To Tesh, and she suspected Eshaz felt this way as well, such secrets didn’t matter anymore. The integrity of the entire galaxy was at stake, not territorial claims or racial power structures.

  She was beginning to doubt many of the “sacred” teachings that had been passed on to her during her lifetime, and had been wondering how much of the information had been a clever web of deceit. Now she was taking two of her Human friends to the most clandestine of all Parvii gathering places, which could subject her to severe discipline from Woldn, but she was willing to face that possibility. She felt newly strong and defiant, and could not wait to tell him with determination and absolute certainty what needed to be done for the sake of the galaxy.

  It took longer than Tesh had anticipated for her to cross space, since she ran into a stretch of bad podways on the far side of the Oxxi Asteroid Belt, and had to slow down. Only a few years ago, when she piloted other podships on these and other routes, she only rarely encountered this sort of problem. Eshaz had told her that entire galactic sectors had collapsed since then, from the continual entropic decay of Timeweb. This was of increasing concern to her, as it was to the dedicated Tulyan caretaker.

  After almost two hours, the podship finally entered the treacherous Asteroid Funnel leading into the galactic fold of the Parviis. Inside the passenger compartment, Acey and Dux looked out portholes and saw grisly clusters of tiny Parvii bodies outside floating in the vacuum … along with the tumbling, luminous white stones of the funnel, stones that were slowed by the collective mass of the corpses. So was the podship, which had to carefully negotiate the funnel in order to elude the stones and thick groupings of bodies.

  In the green glow of the sectoid chamber, Tesh was even more horrified than her two passengers, but she kept advancing toward her destination anyway, with tears streaming down her face. This was the most terrible Parvii tragedy she had ever seen, and in all likelihood the greatest in their entire history.

  Finally the spacecraft emerged into the immense, pocketlike Parvii Fold, where even more chaos became apparent. There were clusters of bodies everywhere in sight, floating and bumping into one another, and more podships than she had ever seen before—thousands and thousands of sentient spacecraft overflowing the moorage basin. Some of the vessels were tethered together, but many were not and just floated aimlessly in the airless vacuum, as if even the life force of the sentient creatures themselves had gone out of commission.

  Around the faintly glowing Palace of Woldn, Tesh saw a comparatively small swarm of Parviis—a few million of them flying to and fro lethargically, with nowhere near their usual hummingbird energy. As she tethered her ship, she saw that the grand palace was weakening, since the Parviis holding it together were losing strength and causing structural deficiencies and inconsistencies in the simulated gravity system. Many of them had a sickly, yellowish sheen to their bodies.

  Leaving her personal magnification system off, Tesh entered the large palace by riding in on a shoulder of Dux Hannah, who walked beside Acey Zelk. Both of the boys wore their thick green protective suits and helmets, to enable them to breathe and to survive in the subzero environment. They were like giants entering the building, but the structure was on such a majestic scale that they still had plenty of headroom.

  Inside a vaulted chamber on the second level, Woldn lay on a bed formed by his fellow Parviis and fabric, while a small number of his advisers sat or stood nearby. None of them were flying, and many looked gaunt as they walked about arthritically, with the natural color drained from their faces.

  Like a Lilliputian speaking to giants, Tesh told her Human companions to find a place to sit off to one side, and they did as she wished, on the simulated marble floor.

  Approaching the Eye of the Swarm, Tesh told him where she had been, and asked what had happened to him.

  “You!” Woldn exclaimed, half rising out of his bed. Tall by Parvii standards, and wiry-thin, he wore a dark robe. “I forbid you to be here! And you bring Humans? What madness is this?”

  “I have come nonetheless,” she said, in a gentle voice. “For your sake, my honored leader, and for the sake of all galactic races. We come on a mission of utmost importance.”

  “What sort of drivel is this? Leave my sight, before I have you killed.”

  Fou
r of his aides moved toward her, but stopped when Acey made a motion to intervene. The Eye of the Swarm was sending them telepathic commands.

  “You always were outspoken, weren’t you?” Woldn said, to Tesh. “Is there no escape from your meddling, even on my deathbed?” He sat up, arranging tiny pillows around him. “Once, I had high hopes for you, but you let me down. You let all of us down.”

  Tesh moved closer to him, and felt herself engage with his weakened morphic field. Though Parviis could transmit thoughts telepathically to one another, and could limit what information they passed to each other through this means, she instead opened her mind and did not attempt to conceal anything from him. Feeling the outflow of her thoughts, Tesh watched the expression on his narrow, creased face as he assimilated the data and perused it. She revealed her ideals to him, how she thought Humans, Tulyans, Parviis, and other galactic races needed to work together.

  “You have experienced a great deal in your life,” Woldn said, at last. “Important things.”

  “Yes,” she said, softly.

  “Your intentions are good. I see that. But I cannot agree with your reason for coming here. You ask too much. My people will never work on equal terms with Tulyans or Humans. For millennia, for as long as the memory expands and the stories are told, Parviis have been the dominant race of the three. That will not change under my leadership.”

  She said nothing, and hoped that he would cogitate further, analyzing the information she had provided from new angles. But he was sick and weak, and might not have the capability to do so.

  In a diminished, cheerless voice, Woldn said that the new defensive weapons shot by the Tulyans—comets, meteors, and radioactive asteroids—had caused immense harm to the Parviis, disrupting the energy fields that connected them paranormally with their brethren, throwing the tiny people into disarray. The damage extended to some Parviis who had been piloting podships out in deep space, causing them to fall off course into uncharted regions. It also killed most of the breedmasters and war priests, preventing the symbiotic segments from organizing a retaliatory force to strike back at the Tulyans.