The Enemy Papers

by Barry B. Longyear

  The Drac who wrote the book Timan Survival is named Vigas Thorm. Thorm is an academic on Draco who has never been to Timan.

  Once more the resurrection, this time administered by Yora Beneres. Something different this time. I am not the only one out of suspension. We are close to Timan and all of the pods are open. After the gunk is removed from my eyes, I see Falna sitting up in its suspension pod, working its neck muscles to loosen them. "Falna?"

  It looks at me and answers, "Yes?"

  "On Timan. What was the Ri Mou Tavii like?"

  Falna stares at the deck for an instant, squints its eyes, and shakes its head. "Depressing. Very depressing." It struggles out of the pod, stands weaving on the deck, and stumbles toward the shower.

  As the door on the airlock opens, allowing Timan's poisonous atmosphere to enter, I look through my suit's view plate at the three Timans standing there in clouds of choking gas. The smaller of the three is named Atruin 'do Timan and he represents Timan Nisak to Willis Davidge and his entourage. In excellent English he introduces his two companions, Pritith and Riniseh. Despite the purported Timan abhorrence of violence, at least the kind that involves them personally, it is apparent that Pritith and Riniseh are personal bodyguards. They appear capable of backing up their instinctive social manipulations with fists and whatever weapons are concealed within their brown and gray robes.

  Davidge introduces his "entourage," Kita, Ty, Falna, and myself, the crew having already left the ship headed for Timan's limited Indulgence Zone for oxynitro breathers. After that comes the Timan's formal greeting: "I approach you in peace with no motive or weapon hidden. Welcome to Timan, to my hearth, and to my place of business."

  Davidge steps forward and in English replies, "I stand here in doubt, the heat of a Timan weapon still burning my skin, a weapon meant to kill me and my charge, Yazi Ro."

  Davidge nods toward me and I watch as the Timan's tiny white eyes grow wide. Atruin 'do Timan waves aside his greetings with a fleshy arm and bows his head. "I am very distressed by this, sir. What can I do to clear the doubt between us?"

  Davidge gestures at the bulkheads with a suited hand. "Words have no leashes."

  The Timan holds the palms of its irregularly fingered hands out to indicate his understanding. "We should go where they cannot wander." Davidge bows in approval to the suggestion and Atruin 'do Timan leads us down a ramp into a dimly illuminated passage that arrives at a huge, sleek blue vehicle that opens itself, allowing us to enter and seat ourselves in the plush black couches inside. Atruin takes his seat with us and leaves his two protectors to ride outside the compartment, a gesture of great trust on the Timan's part, according to Timan Survivor. Once the doors are closed and locked, Atruin says, "Nisak, dark and quiet." At that the windows opaque, the sounds from outside the compartment blank, and the vehicle begins accelerating toward the company nest.

  "No one can hear us or observe. Now, Mr. Davidge, tell me the circumstances that gave birth to this distressing doubt."

  "There are two things," begins Davidge. "First, there is the latest book of The Talman accepted by the Jetai Diea on Draco. It is the Koda Nusinda and titled The Eyes of Joanne Nicole. Are you familiar with it?"

  The way the Timan's skin blanches as his eyes go wide speaks worlds. The extreme emotional reserve claimed for Timans in Timan Survivor appears to have at least one exception.

  "Although I have not read it, I am familiar with its substance. I was not aware that the existence of the work is known outside the Jetai Diea. You said there are two things."

  Davidge glances at Kita and she leans forward, issues a tiny bow with her head, and holds an envelope toward the Timan. "Atruin 'do Timan, sir, these are the specifications and test results on a weapon used against Mr. Davidge and Yazi Ro on Friendship. It is an improperly detonated thermal drill and the source of the weapon appears to be Timan Nisak."

  The Timan holds the envelope in both hands and stares at it as though it might grow fangs and bite him. After a moment he looks up and says, "There is something missing."

  Davidge looks at me and I turn away, frowning. This Timan might be our enemy―probably is our enemy. But then The Talman speaks to me from the corridors of my memory. Aydan said that if there are no secrets, there is nothing to hide, nothing to remember.

  I face the Timan and say, "There is a talma whose end may find the war on Amadeen at an end. Through the work of a Jetah Talman on Amadeen and the insights of the Koda Nusinda, the likely paths became visible. Davidge and I are parts to this puzzle. The Koda Nusinda is a third part. If the Koda Nusinda is discredited and the Jetai Diea rescinds its decision to add it to The Talman, the Timan role in the USE-Draco War will never become more than a rumor. If Davidge or I are killed it is not likely that we will be replaced. The talma will probably fail and the Nusinda may be discredited."

  The Timan's lower mandible rests on its bloated chest, his head jerking slightly in time with his breaths. "I see why you came to Timan. You perceive a motive in our desire to have the work disregarded." He looks up and adds: "And you would find out who is behind the attempt to sabotage this talma. Perhaps you would see, as well, if the species you believe gave birth to the war can somehow manipulate the warring factions on Amadeen into a peace."

  No one contradicts the Timan and Atruin seems to close himself off from his surroundings. After an uncomfortable moment of this silence, Atruin emerges, his eyes almost glowing. "Please understand, every species has the choice, in response to a threat, to act or to react. Both humans and Dracs attack or run when they react. Timans, as you know from the new book of The Talman, react by manipulating the threat against itself. Most Timans do not respond this way, of course, any more than most humans or Dracs immediately attack and kill every time they perceive a possible threat. Reason and choice have subordinated primitive instinct." Atruin 'do Timan's head sinks into his shoulders until he exhibits no neck. "Some of us do yield to instinct, however, at least to the extent of using the skills instinct has provided. Regrettably, Hissied 'do Timan was one such."

  "Might there be others?" asks Kita.

  "Are there murderers on Earth?" asks Atruin, not expecting an answer. He holds up the envelope. "I will turn this over to the Karnarak, our situation resolution force, with an urgent request from Nisak for information. If there are answers, the Karnarak will find them." He orders the windows cleared and I watch the hazy grays of Timan's landscape as we streak toward Timan Nisak.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  Timan Nisak provides a business village for alien representatives, contractors, and visitors. Our part of the village is the Keu Vac Ount, which means Oxygen Garden. The air is rich, humid, and scented with something that resembles rather old cheese. We are given individual suites, and shortly after I remove my environmental suit and clean myself, Davidge enters my greeting room and fills a chair, his expression one of intense concentration. After dressing, I enter and sit opposite him. "You have come to say what?"

  He lifts his gaze slowly and faces me. "I have a favor to ask."

  "Ask."

  He looks around at the room, sniffs the air, and shakes his head. "God, this place stinks. It smells like old feta cheese. You don't suppose this is what the Timans think we want to smell."

  "Perhaps their olfactory thresholds are higher than ours."

  "Hell, you could use a dead skunk for an air freshener in here." He rubs his eyes then clasps his hands over his belly. "There are two things we need to accomplish here. First, we've got to track down whoever it is who is trying to kill us. Atruin has pledged his complete cooperation. I believe he'll produce our killer; or die of embarrassment trying. He seems sincere."

  "I wonder if he is working you," I add, "or someone higher up is working him."

  "Or both," completes the human. Davidge scratches his ear and looks at an animated light display on one wall attempting to resemble a log fire in a fireplace. "Anyhow, Ty, Kita, Falna, and I will be working with Atruin on that."

  "And the remaining
thing," I prompt.

  "Ro, we know the Timans can manipulate other species into destroying themselves. Can they manipulate other species into healing, or at least mutual survival?" Davidge leans forward and rests his forearms on his knees. "One of us needs to know what the Timans know. I want you to enter the Ri Mou Tavii."

  I lean back in my chair. "Falna graduated from the Ri Mou Tavii years ago, with honor."

  "Ro, sooner or later this talma is going to lead us to Amadeen. I expect you and me to be there. I don't want to have to tell Estone Nev that its line is finished because I got Falna killed."

  "I am not eager to get killed myself," I point out.

  Davidge wave, the comment away with a gesture. "There are some other things, too, Ro. You got into this because you want peace on Amadeen. That's what I want right in the front of your head when you're in the Ri Mou Tavii. Falna never fought on Amadeen and has different priorities. I think you already suspect how good I am in guessing what goes on in Falna's head. You I think I understand. How about it?"

  I shrug. "Why don't I go to school, attend a few classes, and speak with the masters? Does it cost much?"

  Davidge grins. "Tuition isn't our problem. The trick is getting you in. Not many Timans make it into one of these schools. An alien, hardly ever."

  It was my turn to smile. "Timan Nisak has moved planets. Perhaps they can move this little hill."

  "Yeah, maybe." He looks at me, a puzzled expression on his face. "When I asked Falna what kind of qualifications you'd need to be accepted, all it said was: 'Be interesting."

  A strange qualification that. Be interesting. Of course, what would interest a Timan? I am not certain that I care. What I know about Timans I do not like.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Lahvay ni 'do Timan, Dakiz of the Ri Mou Tavii, squats on its golden cushion before its crystal table and fills its white-eyed sight with my environmentally suited countenance. He speaks in Timan, the flattened translation coming through the link in my helmet. "I perceive a threat, Yazi Ro. Can you see it?"

  "Perhaps," I answer as I look through my visor. Through the misty air I can see that the chamber is papered with penned writings in Timan. Letters from grateful students? A book the Dakiz is writing? Warning letters from creditors?

  I see the Dakiz open and close his lips in a gesture of approval at my evasive answer. "You have had training in Ri Mou?" he asks, a slight tone of incredulity making it through the link.

  "No," I answer truthfully. "I was born on a battlefield and reared within the bosom of a war, Dakiz. It develops certain skills."

  "You have killed?"

  "Yes."

  Lahvay leans back from his table and looks at me, his white eyes hooded beneath dark gray lids. "Have you killed many?"

  "How many would be many to a Timan, Dakiz?"

  Again the Dakiz approves. I am a success. "Yazi Ro, we've never before had a killer as a student."

  "As far as you know," I respond.

  Lahvay leans to his left, adjusts his plain blue robe, and rests an arm on the table. "There have been no Timan wars for hundreds of years."

  "I find that very strange, Dakiz."

  "How so?"

  "I am but seven, yet the war in which I was born and fought and that gave me the scars I carry was a Timan war."

  The Dakiz taps the fingers of his right hand against his chin. Perhaps Davidge should have warned me not to be too interesting. "Yazi Ro, if no Timan fought in the war, no Timan died or suffered wounds, if no particle of Timan territory was lost or acquired, how then can this be a Timan war?"

  I feel the anger coming on and I force it down. My mind goes blank as I try to remember the story of the sharks and the rock. Instead I use my own words. "Lahvay ni 'do Timan, who is responsible for an egg: the egg itself or the creature who laid it?"

  The Dakiz narrows its white eyes and holds back its head. "Know that when Nisak applied its considerable influence to gain you admittance to the Ri Mou Tavii, my appreciation of the situation was as an impertinence, at best. At worst, a threat. Do you appreciate the threat?"

  I take The Talman and add it to the wisdom of the battlefield. "If I know what I know, and I know what you know, I know more than you and therefore have the advantage."

  "Then, make my decision for me, Yazi Ro."

  I hold out my hands. "I am admitted."

  The Timan's face is slightly touched by a breath of disappointment. "That is not the product of the points discussed."

  "Not all has been discussed," I answer. "What has been discussed misleads."

  "How so?"

  I point at the Dakiz. "Until I have walked your steps, breathed your breaths, and seen your seeing, I can never know what you know. I am admitted."

  The Dakiz stands, smoothes its robe over its ample middle, and holds wide its arms. "Welcome to the Ri Mou Tavii, Yazi Ro. If you find here what you seek, that will be a treasure you will earn. Regardless of your success or failure, I trust I will be thoroughly entertained."

  We are arranged in learning nests, circles of students linked by a form of mind fusion to the nest master, a more advanced student who passes down the lessons he has learned to us. Try as they might to appear indifferent, the other students in my nest seem uncomfortable with a suited alien in their midst.

  As the fusion begins, the universe is made very small. In it, two creatures, multi-legged, black, and scaled, their powerful pinching claws slowly opening and closing, corner a third creature, smooth, soft, small, and slow.

  The two clawed creatures are equal in strength and similar in form.

  They do not, therefore, regard each other as threats.

  The small creature looks to the creature on the right, points at it, and screams.

  The clawed creature on the left faces the other to see the cause of the small creature's reaction.

  It sees only its companion and fellow hunter.

  The clawed creature on the right, however, notices the other clawed creature facing it instead of the small soft one.

  The creature on the right raises its claws, hisses, and moves its legs up and down in a menacing dance.

  The creature on the left answers by arching its back, brandishing its own claws, hissing, and moving its legs in a menacing dance.

  As the two clawed creatures attack and pull each other to pieces , the smooth, soft, small, and slow creature escapes.

  In the village, we are seated in another circle. Kita, Davidge, Ty, Falna, I, and another. Our number has been increased by the addition of Captain Moss, who looks terrible. Beneres and Mrabet are still in the Zone. According to Moss, Reaper Brandt is in his quarters on the floor trying to get his heart started. As I half-listen, my head toying with the Ri Mou Tavii lessons, Kita holds out her hands in a gesture of frustration. "I don't think Timan Nisak is giving us its complete cooperation."

  "Why?" asks Davidge.

  "The most recent theory from the Karnarak investigator is that the thermal drill used in the cave is a forgery. All of Nisak's drills of that type are accounted for, he says."

  "How do they explain the lack of markers in the chemical residue?" asks Jeriba Ty. "As I understand it, both JACHE and IMPEX explosives have chemical markers in their explosives."

  Kita slowly shakes her head. "They have an answer for everything. Their scientists say that in the manufacture the chemical marker might have been purposefully left out. They also point out that the marker can be removed, given a lab with sufficient sophistication. As far as the Timans are concerned, it was an act performed by parties unknown with a fraudulent thermal drill designed to implicate Timan Nisak."

  As I watch Davidge's face redden in anger at the report, a memory of mine achieves a different perspective. My brief moments in the Ri Mou Tavii learning nests have already rearranged my view of everything. I am not yet certain whether I like or dislike my new view,

  I remember the thirty or so Front prisoners that I was guarding shortly after the battle of Stokes Crossing in the Southern Shord
a. Three human children, very young, were in the compound with the other prisoners. A woman was entertaining the children by making things appear and disappear.

  Her hands were very quick. She took a pebble from the ground, put it in her pocket, then pulled the pebble out of one of the children's ears. As the children laughed, she threw the pebble away then pulled it out of her own mouth.

  I had never seen anything like it before. I moved closer to the wire to get a better view. She held the pebble between two fingers, placed it in the palm of her other hand, closed her fingers around it, then opened it. The pebble had vanished. She opened both hands and there was no pebble. She clapped her hands together, then slowly parted them to reveal three pebbles in the palm of the bottom hand.

  I heard a shout from a Mavedah soldier on the other side of the compound. A sickening feeling in my middle, I looked up to see three humans running toward a group of rocks. They had escaped while I was distracted by the woman. I raised my knife and cut through the three of them, killing two and wounding the third. I lowered the knife and looked at the woman, wanting to cut her in half because she was as much a part of the escape attempt as the three who ran the wire. Everything pointed at the right hand while it was the left hand doing all the business.

  I look at Davidge and the others seated around the table and think again about where the fingers are pointing. Kita is explaining to Davidge some obscure procedure in police recordkeeping. When she is finished, Davidge asks her to get together with Ernst Brandt to pick his brain. Once she agrees, he faces me. "Are you a part of this?"

  I look up at him. "What do you want?"

  "You've just been sitting there staring into space. Do you have any suggestions; a thought or two?"