The Enemy Papers

by Barry B. Longyear

  She sat up. "What?!"

  "No! No! The kovah takes them only from the dead. I assure you. And we have been getting more information from captured medical texts, and from the USEF itself through the provisions of the war accords." The Jetah paused for a moment. "I must tell you that we have an instrument that we can use on Drac patients who have been blinded. Implants are placed into the vision centers of the patient's brain, and this enables the patient to see using gelatinous receivers that fit over the eyes."

  Nicole heard Vencha Eban tum off its equipment and steal quietly out of the room.

  "Can you ... can you do this for me?"

  "As a last resort we might try. The procedure is well-established and quite common. However, we only use it when the sensory nerves leading from the eye have been destroyed. We have no reason to believe that yours have been damaged."

  "Pur Sonaan, would making those implants injure my optic nerves?"

  "Probably. And the brain scans we have made have shown us that the differences—chemical, electrical, and structural—between human and Drac neural systems are considerable. Not only might not the procedure work with you, it might damage your vision centers beyond any repair. It might even kill you. We are planning nothing at present; I am just keeping you informed."

  Time for a new subject. "Pur Sonaan, I heard the word 'Madah' and 'Mavedah' used in that story Vencha Eban was reciting."

  "Yes?"

  "Both Mavedah and vemadah mean 'of the Madah.' But what is the difference between sticking the 'of' in front or in the middle of the word?"

  "It is the difference between modern usage and ancient formal usage. Vencha was reciting the Nuvida. You should begin earlier, with the Koda Sinda, The Myth of Aakva. Go straight to The Talman itself."

  Nicole smiled. "How do I do that?"

  "Emmmm. I have a player. If I bring you my personal player will you use it quietly? I cannot have the other patients disturbed."

  "Yes. Yes, I'll be very quiet."

  Sindie was the world.

  And the World was said to be made by Aakva, the God of the Day Light ....

  ...And Aakva was said to make on the world special creatures of yellow skin and hands and feet each of three fingers. And it was said to make the creatures of one kind, that each could bear its young, or the young of another. And it was said to make the creatures stand upright, make thought, and give voice that the creatures could worship the Parent of All.

  It took very little time for Nicole to realize that The Talman began with the oldest written document known to the Drac race. The Myth of Aakva and The Story of Uhe both predated the Drac ancestral planet's year dating system. Sindie was the ancestral planet, and year dates on that planet began with the birth of Shizumaat eleven thousand eight hundred and seventy-two of Sindie's years ago. When Nicole asked, Mitzak informed her that Shizumaat was born in 9679 BC.

  The Myth was a Book of Genesis for hermaphrodites. It described the creation of the race and Aakva's reason for the creation. In addition, it placed a priesthood firmly in control of everything.

  ...And the first chief of servants was named Rhada.

  Rhada had the servants go among the Sindie and learn all of the signs and visions that were known. And the servants gathered this knowledge and gave it to Rhada.

  For twelve days and twelve nights, the chief of the servants studied the signs and visions, and sorted the false from the true, the tribal lays from the true Laws of Aakva.

  And on the thirteenth day, Rhada spoke to the servants what it had learned ....

  And Rhada ordered the servants to go among the Sindie and teach the Laws. And it was promised by Rhada that for just so long as the Sindie listened to Aakva's servants and followed the laws the God of the Day Light made, there would be peace and plenty.

  And the Sindie listened to the servants, learned the laws, and followed the laws. They made sacrifice to Aakva through its servants ....

  An old political structure: theocratic despotism. Pay your way into Heaven. But there was something about the verb tense used in The Myth of Aakva.

  "And the world was said to be made by Aakva ..." "It was said that Aakva called its children the Sindie ..."

  It was not stated as fact; it was stated as theological heresay. It was there to show beginnings. Nicole continued listening. There were many stories within the Myth: Summat, the doubter Daultha, Aakva's curse of war upon the Sindie, Aakva's division of the Sindie into the four great tribes.

  She thought upon the universality of certain things: explanations, ideals, hopes. She picked up the tiny player, pulled herself out of bed, and began to walk the room as she listened to the Koda Ovida. The Story of Uhe.

  It began with an explanation of the tabus that kept the four tribes from war. It continued with a story that began in a land ... a land called the Madah.

  Almost twelve thousand years ago, in a patch of hilly desert, before the world of Sindie was known to be a world, there was the Madah. It was a land of drought and famine.

  The tribe of the Madah, the Mavedah, had been reduced to eating its own dead ...

  She heard Vunseleh's footsteps enter the room, and moved to turn off the player. "Please, Joanne Nicole. Leave the story run. The reciter is Higa Tidanoa. Get on the bed, I shall apply your ointment, and we shall both listen."

  She removed her robe and sat naked upon the bed. The story continued.

  Near a fire was one of the lower servants of Aakva named Uhe. And that night Uhe sat and watched as its only child, Leuno, died of starvation. And Uhe watched as the food preparers carried Leuno's small body toward the masters' fire.

  Uhe said to the God of the Day Light:

  "This, then, is your promise of plenty for keeping your Law of Peace, Aakva? Is this the mercy and reward of the Parent of All?"

  Silence answered Uhe that night. And Uhe saw a child gnawing upon a piece of cured tent skin, while the child's parent, a once proud hunter, watched with envy in its eyes. Near one of the hunters' fires, eight sat waiting for a child to make its last breath. When that breath ended, the pitifully wasted corpse would be apportioned among the hunters.

  Uhe studied the faces of the hunters and saw that one of them was mouthing the curse of quick death. And the curse was for the child. And the one who cursed was the parent. And there was nothing but hunger in the parent's eyes.

  Rage drove the pain and fear from Uhe's head. It was before that first night's fire, the land still warm from Aakva's touch, that Uhe stood before the tribe's masters.

  Uhe said:

  "Bantumeh, great and honored ruler of the masters of the Mavedah, this night you have tasted the flesh of my child, Leuno."

  And Bantumeh covered its face with its hands. "Your shame is our shame, poor Uhe."

  Bantumeh uncovered a face wrinkled with age, pain, and the scars of many challenges to the rulership of the Mavedah.

  "But we have all tasted either child, sibling, parent, or friend this year. There is no choice. To put our minds aside as we eat to keep the Mavedah alive is our sole hope. Your grief is understood; your reminder is out of place."

  At the rebuke Uhe did not retire from the ring of masters, but instead pointed-east toward the Akkujah Mountains. "There, Bantumeh, is food for the Mavedah."

  Bantumeh stood, its face crossed with anger. "You would have the Mavedah violate the tabus? Could we do such a thing, do you not think that I would already have done it?"

  A master named Iyjiia who was the chief of Aakva's servants, leaped to its feet.

  "Uhe, this is a beast standing before the masters, not a servant of Aakva!" Iyjiia faced the other masters and filled its image with voice, for Iyjiia was thin and small in stature.

  "The law is clear. The Mavedah is forbidden to enter the domain of the Irrveden, just as the Irrveden is forbidden to enter the Madah. It is tabu even for us to ask the Irrveden for food."

  Iyjiia faced Uhe and pointed. "Even to wish this is tabu!"

  Most of the masters nodded and mutte
red their agreement. It was a painful law to obey, but its wisdom was understood by all. To violate that law would again bring the wars to Sindie. This was the promise of Aakva, and the wars were too horrible to contemplate.

  Uhe held out its arms and faced the night sky. "But I invoke a new vision from Aakva. Its old law was for a time and a place. Aakva speaks to me that the time is changed. And Aakva speaks to us all that the place is changed. It is time for a new law."

  Iyjiia stood silent, for there was danger in disputing one's claim to a vision. If the claim of the young Uhe were false, Uhe would suffer for it. But Iyjiia would pay the same price if it disputed a vision that turned out to be true law.

  Iyjiia also saw that many members of the tribe had gathered around the ring of masters. Whether the law be true or not, if it promised food it might find support among that gathering crowd of armed hunters.

  Iyjiia returned to its place in the ring of masters and said to Uhe, "Tell us your vision."

  As was the custom, Uhe unfastened its covering of skins and stood naked before them to show the truth of its words.

  "Aakva speaks to me now. It speaks of lush mountains to the east, where the darghat and the suda kneel to drink at the plentiful waters; where the trees are heavy with sweet fruits; the fields crowded with kadda melon and the white grain.

  "Every evening Aakva's hands of fire point beyond those mountains. It shows me the Diruvedah and the Kuvedah, their bellies bloated with fresh-cooked flesh; their grasslands crowded with game that leaps upon their spears; their children tall and laughing.

  "Then Aakva points west of the mountains to this land of famine and the God of the Day Light says to me, 'Uhe, this is my sign that the Mavedah must leave this place. The masters of the Mavedah must go to their peoples, tell them of Aakva's Law of War, and have them gather at the foot of the Akkujah Mountains where the cliffs of Akkujah fall to the Yellow Sea.

  "From there I will lead the Mavedah across the mountains, through the land of the Irrveden, to the Dirudah. And the Mavedah will defeat the Diruvedah and will drive the Irrveden from the Great Cut and the southern Akkujah into the northern mountains."

  Uhe stopped speaking, but it remained with arms outstretched. Uhe's voice became low and grave as it continued.

  "The Irrveden will try to join with the Kuvedah against us. But too fast will we attack. With the blood command of Aakva at our backs, we will strike north through the mountains, brushing the Irrveden aside. And then we will flood the lands of the Kuvedah with our victories! The Mavedah will rule all!"

  Uhe lowered its arms, then stooped and retrieved its covering of skins. With its coverings replaced, Uhe faced Iyjiia. "And that is what the God of the Day Light says to me."

  Bantumeh studied Uhe. "Wars? Are we to believe that the God of Day Light inflicts this ancient punishment upon us? What have we done?"

  Uhe bowed. "Bantumeh, you are kind and wise. But you are too kind to meet this need of the Mavedah. It matters not what we have done. The old law will see the end of the Mavedah. Aakva's new Law of War will see us, our children, and the Mavedah live."

  Uhe talked to the masters and to the hunters crowded about the fire.

  "I see there to be things worse than war. I see our glorious hunters grubbing in the dirt; I see the Mavedah eating now things too low to rank with waste; I see the Mavedah eating now things too precious and sacred to be food. And I see from this the end of the Mavedah."

  Uhe faced the ruler of the Mavedah. "Bantumeh, there are things worse than war."

  Iyjiia stood and waved its hands back and forth. "You cannot know this, Uhe. The oldest of us has never seen war. And this is only because we all obey the tabus."

  Uhe faced Iyjiia.

  "Mavedah does not fight Mavedah. Once there is nothing but Mavedah on Sindie, there can be no war. And thus the Mavedah will have both peace and plenty." Uhe let the silence of impending death fall over it.

  "Iyjiia, do you dispute my vision?"

  The hunters gathered around the ring of masters more closely and looked at Iyjiia. The tips of the hunters' spears glinted in the light from the fire. The night was still, save for the relentless press of the death drums.

  A servant of Aakva had a privileged position. Food, skins for the back, and skins to protect against cold and the wetness of night were provided by the tribe in exchange for the servant's studies and visions. To dispute Uhe's vision would mean ordeal by stoning or fire. Iyjiia liked its position. Iyjiia was old. And Iyjiia answered.

  "I do not dispute your vision, Uhe."

  The roar of approval from the gathered hunters was cut short as Bantumeh stood and shouted.

  "I dispute your vision, Uhe!" Bantumeh turned toward Iyjiia. "May Aakva clean its waste with your cowardly mouth!" The ruler of the Mavedah faced Uhe. "I would see which of us Aakva favors with the stones!"

  The challenge to ordeal was ended by the hiss of a hunter's spear sailing through the night. The pointed shaft entered Bantumeh's chest, and Bantumeh looked at it as though surprised. Up at the hunters went Bantumeh's eyes. "One has chosen for all."

  And then Bantumeh fell.

  Those who surrounded Bantumeh's still body felt the breath of Aakva's tabu against murder upon their necks. But no one looked to see who was missing its spear. And no one pulled the spear from Bantumeh's body to see whose sign the spear carried, until Uhe pulled the spear from the body and held it over its head.

  "See you all that Aakva has spoken." And then Uhe threw the spear into the fire. If there were. a sign upon the spear's shaft, it went to ash before their eyes. And it was whispered among the hunters that the shaft carried Aakva's own sign.

  One hunter began the cheer, and then all the hunters cheered until their sound pushed the death drums from the night sky. All swore their obedience to Uhe and Aakva's new Law of War. The masters left the fire to convey Aakva's new law to their peoples, and the hunters there left to begin their preparations for the times to come.

  As the beat of the death drums again filled the night air Uhe was left alone at the fire, save for a hunter named Conseh who squatted next to the flames. Conseh's hands were clasped because it carried no spear. Conseh's face was impassive because it hid that which should not be known.

  "Uhe, I have a question."

  "Ask, Conseh."

  And the hunter asked: "When Aakva talks to you, do you hear it through your head, your womb, or your belly?"

  Uhe studied the hunter. It seemed to the servant that Aakva's tabus had taken ghostly forms and were dancing above the hunter's head.

  "Conseh, you are impertinent."

  The hunter stood and the images vanished. "I am not. My peace demands an answer. Aakva's new law speaks to most of us through the womb and belly."

  "Do you dispute the new law, Conseh?"

  The hunter waved its hands at the servant of Aakva. "I would not dispute you, for the God of the Day Light's new law speaks to all of us, and with a voice that cannot be silenced. But it is a law that anyone of us could have made."

  The servant of Aakva looked toward the fire. The shape of the murderer's spear was indistinguishable from the fire's sticks.

  "I have no answer for you, Conseh."

  Conseh looked toward the backs of its fellow hunters as they moved into the night to prepare for war.

  "It is my wonder what the hunters will do once Aakva stops speaking to their wombs and bellies and begins again to speak to their heads."

  The hunter left the fire. And to Uhe the hunter left both a question and a truth.

  Joanne Nicole stopped the recording, and turned toward Vunseleh. It was wiping its hands. "Vunseleh, this Uhe is a savage. What is this savage doing in your Talman: your path of life?"

  The Drac put away its medications, then stood silently for a long while. "Joanne Nicole, each Koda of The Talman has in it a number of truths. Through the events of the stories, those truths are revealed. It is for the student to find the truths that best serve its own talma." Vunseleh paused again. "F
or me, Uhe was the first one in my race's history to stand up and say, 'God is wrong!' Uhe did that, and then stood to bear the burden of its claim."

  The footsteps walked from the room, Nicole replaced her robe, and continued listening to the story of the heartsick servant from the Madah—the poisoned land.

  ...As Uhe walked, it looked at the sky and addressed the light of the red clouds.

  "Aakva, if you exist, and if you are God, why do you play with your creatures so?"

  Uhe came among its warriors, and all cheered the demonstration of the truth of Uhe's vision of the new Law of War....

  "...why do you play with your creatures so?"

  Nicole stopped the story as she felt something twist within her gut. Fear? No, it was a guilt that she could not identify.

  How often have humans asked Uhe's question? When had I asked it last?

  ... Mallik's corpse on the litter; the dark brown faces of the fishers—their eyes offering sympathy, but demanding, in return, strength.