by Peter Yard
“I do not mock you at all. Although I have misgivings about your family you have always acted honorably. And decisively. We need decisiveness and intelligence now. I hope you are right, Tei. Everything rests on you now.”
Rayan, looked at Mikel, perhaps he saw that he was giddy, perhaps pale. He led him from the room to a place where he would get cleaned and fed.
He was left in the Valis household. He had a chance to observe what home life was like for the Traders. Those who were not on Caravan or other business assisted with various duties. Generally, it was expected that all family members would help, though if someone had special skills, they tended to be favored. Tei refused to let her sister Karina cook. ‘Self preservation,’ she whispered. Apparently the best cooks were her mother and her younger brother. He never did work out how many were in the house: Tei had two brothers and a sister, all younger. There were several aunts and uncles, but they only visited irregularly, apparently they had their own homes. Tei confided that some of them had girlfriends or boyfriends on the side. It was accepted, but private. Nothing to get worked up about.
The Trader culture did resemble that of the Center. Though in Lind families were a bit smaller. He presumed the other similarities were a result of their common origin. Even Bethor and the Cities were not that different. He wondered if all human cultures in the past were like this, that would be something to investigate if he got a chance to look through the Library.
Mikel was in a daze, he barely remembered stepping into the bath or even the food he had been given, even as he was still wearing the rags from the prison drenched in blood. Karina had poured a bath. He was relieved to remember that he was alone and had undressed himself. Too much had happened. He sloshed the warm water over his face. Wonderful. He felt the comforting warmth and bliss, wishing it would wash away this world. He opened his eyes. The world had not reverted to his shack back home. It was not a dream he was going to wake up from. “Damn. What the hell do I do now?”
“What happens now?” Mikel asked Tei.
She sat in the Council meeting room with the other Councillors. She seemed to have taken immediately to her new roles as both Councillor and as Head Councillor. She had not responded to him.
“Should I address you as Mistress Tei?” He asked, hearing the odd sound out of his mouth of another name for a female Master, why two names when one would do?
She smiled. “Not necessary at all. A silly formality. Traders do not like such formality. Olen’s love of ritual did not make my fellow Traders happy. As for our plans. It will take time to form an army; we have to send messengers to the other Trader cities, and hope they respond in time. Get people to a staging area. Swear loyalty so we will have some semblance of a chain of command. Arggh! We do not have enough time. Lindin will march on Sanfran well before then. You saw Sanfran’s defenses Mikel, they won't hold, will they?”
He thought for a while juggling lots of things. He saw the beginnings of a plan. A crazy plan. Extending it in his head he saw it could become even crazier. There were probably better plans, but it was the only one he could think of right now.
He spoke aloud to himself. “This is no time for timidity.” He saw Tei’s puzzled look.
“Before I left Lind I had a briefing with some of the wizards. They gave me an update of the situation in Bethor and Arva. One thing they covered was the port founded by The Center at Iska, at the mouth of the Zanda River, downstream from Tanfel.”
“Yes, we know of it,” said Master Levin.
Mikel continued, “There is a garrison normally stationed at Iska. However, most of it has been, or rather was being, transferred to a temporary fort north of Tanfel. The garrison was moved there secretly because we feared that one of the Cities acting as a pawn of Bethor would move to block the southern trade routes from the Eastern Caravanserai to Tanfel and therefore disrupt our strategically critical trade with Tanten.”
“I see. The Center does not trust the safety of trade routes via Bethor either,” added another Master, whom Mikel would later learn was Hazn.
“I believe if we can get a message to the garrison we could persuade them to bring their troops north to Sanfran. They would probably arrive much earlier than a Trader army. And we could even send a small group of Traders to help Sanfran morale in the meantime.” Mikel thought it probably wasn’t wise to say that last bit. But it was out there now.
Tei said, “Mikel, what makes you think that the commander of a garrison would respond to your request? This would mean Lind becoming involved in a war, something they usually avoid.”
“This would be to avoid a bigger war or at least to protect the trade route. I also think I could persuade the commander. Anyway, it is a free option, we just send a rider with the message and either we get the help, or we don’t and nothing is changed. Except if we get it it could make a significant difference.”
Tei held up her hand. Everyone understood, silence while I think.
He didn’t know how long they sat there, but finally she lifted her head and looked across the room at him.
“Write your letter with all the skill you can. Captain Ellis, gather one of our best messengers and a few skilled riders to assist, have them meet me in the Head Councillor’s quarters in one hour. Councillors, I would like to meet you here in three hours to plan this undertaking. I like the suggestion of a small force to Sanfran in the meantime.” She said.
Mikel wanted to comfort her. But this was not the right time or place.
seventeen
Tipping Point
He went over the note again and again. He was sure it was wrong the way he told it but he had been as honest as he could. He described in summary his mission, the journey to Bethor, his time there, meeting Tei, the journey across the Plains, more detail about the stay in Sanfran, about the coup in Tanten, and the likely war that was about to unfold. He begged for the commander’s help to prevent Sanfran falling before the Tanten forces could arrive.
He wrote the encrypted version carefully so he could accurately add another message to it. An added space here, a lifted letter there, and the steganographic message was embedded. Encryption within encryption. The authentication within the message. All the Wizards learned basic steganographic techniques, the art of hiding messages in plain sight. This was an easy one since there was only one shared secret he had with the commander, whoever they were. Even if someone had the encryption key they would likely not find the hidden message, which hopefully would persuade the receiver to act.
He carefully folded the letter then sealed with the seal of the Council of Tanten. He wrapped it in one of the sheets of waterproof leather he had brought along, distinctly a product of Lind but not the kind of thing that was exported, it was just a household item.
Mikel turned to give it to the messenger but it was Rayan Valis who stood there.
“Major? Are you … ?”
“They need to see that the letter has authority from Tanten as well as you. I won't be alone, I will be taking three friends along, just in case there is trouble.” He smiled.
Mikel shook his hand and handed over the wrapped letter. Rayan Valis turned from Mikel and disappeared out of the door. Through the open window streamed orange light, the sun was setting, however the Major would not wait for morning.
Mikel looked at his small collection of things that he had spread out on a table while looking for his notebook and wraps. Some of the items unused, the entire collection seemed so naive and juvenile now. He had thought he would have the chance to perform some experiments, do some scientific investigations, instead he was fighting for his life and changing the fate of nations. He did not think there was any way he could be up to the task. But he had no choice. Almost all the people he had met were decent people just trying to live; a war would be a random scythe of death across the Great Plains and extend all the way to Bethor and Lind. Like a human plague. It made the machinations leading to war seem all the more pointless.
He left his room and walked wes
t towards the Keep and the setting sun, now just above the Castle walls. He changed his path so the growing shadow of the Keep would shade his eyes. Tei was on the steps talking to some guards and two Councillors. She preferred normal Trader dress: leathers and turban. She apparently didn’t care for the fine clothes of office. But then Traders don’t particularly like ritual.
“Mikel!” She called. “Come with me.”
She came down the steps took his hand and started to lead him somewhere around behind the Keep, constantly chattering away about preparations and logistics. Mikel was more amazed about the hand holding. She had never done that before, he just smiled stupidly. They stopped before a two story rectangular gray stone building just to the north of the Keep. He had not noticed it before even though it was as wide as the Keep.
“You wanted to see the Library? Didn’t you? Well, here it is.”
“This is the Library. And I have FULL access.” She said. She smiled as if she was a child who had been left alone next to a pot of honey.
The entrance to the building was as plain as the gray stone of the outside. The inside also seemed ordinary, racks of books, a card catalog, assistants.
“I wish to see the Records. All of them.” Tei said. Sounding royal, finally getting her way. The ten year old's dream coming true.
Master Garun, the Head Librarian, was a thin gray haired main in his fifties, he looked unimpressed. “You cannot see all of the Records, there are simply too many of them. You have to refine your topic. Decide what you really want to know about. Do you want me to give you some examples?”
He seemed to take their indecision as a ‘yes’. “You could ask for: a summary of the history of Earth pre-interstellar travel, post interstellar travel, the discoveries on Term and Fortress, the first expedition to Neti, the discoveries of Helen Amaris on Neti, starship design in theory and practice, …”
Mikel knew that name. “Amaris. Helen Amaris. There was a legend told on the Plains about Amaris who talked to Zeus.”
“Yes. Helen Amaris was the first human to talk to the entity we now call Zeus. The entity resides in the structure called the Citadel of Zeus.”
Tei was curious. “Master Garun, I have seen the Citadel with my own eyes. It is beyond imagining. What is it?”
“We do not have detailed information beyond some of Helen Amaris’ field notes. We do not know what it is, who built it, or why it was built. We do know that it was not built by humans. It was here when we came to Neti from Earth. The records speak of a pact with Zeus, widely known, but no copy of the pact survives. So much was lost when the Great Battle was fought and later when the Cities fell.”
Mikel needed to clear something up. “The Great Battle destroyed civilization on Neti. Do you have any details on the Battle?”
“I too wish we had more on this. It appears people were too busy trying to survive to write a history. Or no history survived. There are some clues. It appears that the Battle occurred between 500 and 700 years ago. We were not the target, we were ‘innocent bystanders’, as the Records say. Somehow the battle also destroyed civilization on other human worlds but there is no explanation as to how such a thing could occur. The survivors expected help to arrive but no ships ever came. Except the Raymond Tans, of course.” He said.
“Master Garun, I cannot stay since I have urgent official business. You will give Wizard Mikel here full access to the Library.”
Garun’s eyes opened wide, almost glaring.
“Is there a problem?” Tei said.
“No, Councillor. It is up to the Council who gets privileged access. Come Master Mikel, let me introduce you to our catalog.”
Mikel found the catalog eerily similar to the library catalog in Lind. He was starting to see that so much of the similarity between the cultures that he knew was due to their common heritage, more and more he saw the similarities rather than the differences between all of the cultures he had experienced. Even the language differences were not that great. Certainly they all shared the same alphabet and numbering system. A highly sophisticated number and mathematical system that itself indicated an advanced origin. The Tanten Library had several sections marked off according to the level of privilege. But when Garun took him to the second floor he knew it was different. This floor was an area to itself and access was by a heavy, reinforced iron door that was locked. Garun opened the door for him. Inside he was introduced to Maria the librarian for this floor, then the door was locked behind him.
"Hello, I am Maria ya Irenni, the Curator of Library Antiquities."
Maria was a woman in her thirties but she did not dress in the usual manner of the Librarian and other officials, or even other Traders. She seemed casual but the clothes were odd.
Maria noticed him looking at her clothes. “Not what you are used to?” She smiled.
“I like to get into character. Try to understand the Ancients. This is typical clothing that they would have worn from what I have read. Though there are strange references that make it sound like their clothes were also machines. However, these clothes I am wearing were simpler but I still found them hard to reproduce, this is an approximation. I am wearing a ’white t-shirt’ and ‘jeans’. The inscription on the shirt is a mathematical equation. We do not understand why the creator of this apparel thought it worthy of showing to the world.”
Mikel laughed.
“They are Maxwell’s Equations of Electromagnetism, and the words underneath, ‘Let there be light’,” he said.
“Hmm. You not only understand it, you appreciate it. Interesting. Who was Maxwell?”
“No idea. At the Center we study many ideas which have names attributed to them but we do not know who most of the people were.”
“What about this one?” She reached over to a table where it appeared she had been inking in text on another ’t-shirt’. It also was a mathematical equation, he recognized it but didn’t understand it. He had intended on studying this as one of his tasks when he became a full Wizard.
“Harrun’s Standard Model of Superspace. But I couldn’t explain it like I could Maxwell’s, I’ve done some basic M-Theory but nothing above that yet.”
Maria looked at him oddly as if he had temporarily gone insane.
“Maria, what exactly is here?” He waved his hand to indicate everything.
“These are original records of the Ancients, we make copies of course but these are the originals. We also have some devices. Some still working, though just barely. Some of the diagrams and images here we cannot duplicate, we can only produce poor copies. The printing presses are always running to produce enough copies of selected texts to duplicate most of this library in other Trader cities. We cannot risk losing so much again.”
He wanted to see some of the devices. So she brought him to a special room. A faded blue box about the size of his two fists together sat on a table in front of him. The room was quite dark.
“Now listen.” Maria leaned past him and touched a small white rectangle on the top of the cube.
After a few seconds a soft woman’s voice came out of the thing.
AvrOS 7.9 Started. Insufficient power for holographic video. Input/Output devices not found, using inbuilt audio only. Internal battery minimal. Errors in hardware checks. Grid not available. Network not available. No direct neural link found. What do you want to do?
The words were strangely lilted, he could understand them individually but they didn’t seem to make sense as sentences.
“Speak towards the box but speak slowly and simply so you don’t confuse it. You can only use it for a few minutes, after that it will need to ‘recharge’ itself. Whatever that means.”
Mikel tried to think of something clever to ask but nothing popped into his head. “What is the Ray Tans?”
Raymond Tans, one time director of Special Contracts, was a celebrated investigator and entrepreneur. He is most famous for his recovery of the Ashan Association Starship buried under a frozen sea on the world known as Reshox where the High
Noon beacon is situated. The starship Raymond Tans was commissioned in 2355 and was used as a flagship for the support fleet for the colony of Neti.
Mikel was amazed. He had been taking notes but had stopped midway because his mind just needed to consider all of this. He jotted some more things down.
“What was the Great Battle about?”
Sorry, I don’t have any information on that.
He tried to think of something related. “In relation to Neti, what is the Pact?”
The Pact or Neti-Terran Pact is an agreement between the Human Nexus and the planetary intelligence often referred to as Neti, the same as the name of the planet. In human mythology Neti was a Sumerian god who was the gatekeeper of the underworld. The intelligence discovered on Neti has been given the codename Zeus and the site of its massive main access area in western Arva has the codename Olympus. Zeus has agreed to terraform the planet to suit human life. In exchange humans will aid in the defense.
“If civilization on Neti was destroyed would the Pact require Zeus to intervene to assist?”
Power level critical. Shutting down.
If Olympus was built for defense, perhaps there were weapons at the Citadel. That seemed crazy and desperate; a perfect fit for their situation, but right now crazy expeditions would not be high priority.
Mikel turned to Maria. “When can I use it again?”
It takes a very long time to recharge. It uses the ‘ambient EM waves’ or something, it seems there were once more efficient ways to recharge but only this method is available now. It is also very old, and failing. It will probably be usable in about 6 months.
“Oh! That's unfortunate." He felt like kicking himself for not planning his questions.
"All right, can you show me the books now?”
"You asked about Ray Tans, you should have asked me. I have studied him quite a bit. Had a bit of a crush on him at one stage. Not the great remote hero they talk about but a very human person." She giggled.