First Salik War 2: The V'Dan

by Jean Johnson

  (All I could do was try to save the core of the religion, knowing that those prophecies would need to be remembered for this very moment. So to speak—don’t think at me in that tone of subvoice, young man,) she added to Li’eth. (No matter what legends may have sprung up around me, I am still just one person. I am unable to stop thousands of angry, bitter, stubbornly prejudiced warriors on a self-righteous rampage. I had given him my word I would not interfere in his choice of government . . . though I did step in a few times to politely remind him that if he wanted to retain his power over my people, he would have to bend in a few areas or risk a full revolt.

  (Since he was determined to separate government from religion, I was free to salvage the religion as best I could . . . but again, just one person. You’re lucky you even have as much as you do, in regards to Sh’nai beliefs and books,) To-mi concluded.

  Jackie wasn’t so sure about that. She attempted a private sending of her own, much more skilled than Li’eth but aimed at the self-proclaimed Immortal. (You could have taught them in person, as part of their strictly religious rites. You’re clearly quite accomplished. So why didn’t you?)

  (Because of you. I knew from my history lessons that the Terrans would bring in their highly skilled psychic discipline, and that such things would help turn the tide of this particular war,) To-mi answered.

  Jackie knew both sendings were private because Li’eth asked over the top of their thoughts, (I’m still trying to figure out how you, a renowned Imperial expert, who doesn’t have a birth record, managed to escape being caught up in the lie of your current fabricated identity. How did you pull that off?)

  (Easily. The Valley of the Artisans was created not only as a refuge for the arts, sciences, and literacy needs of free-minded people, saving them from the brutal savagery of one of your other, slightly more recent ancestors,) she told him, (but also as a refuge for me to visit and integrate myself into the world through their records system. They’re pledged to provide me with an identity every time I need one. And no, they don’t give identities to criminals,) To-mi stated firmly, no doubt reading Li’eth’s underthoughts on that topic. (No, you are not going to investigate Dr. Kuna’mi’s background, either.)

  (And why not?) he challenged her.

  (That could lead to my being exposed, and that would be detrimental to the Empire. Think it through. If the Immortal is proved to exist, then it will cause huge religious upheavals at a time when the Empire needs to remain united and thus strong. I am willing to prove in private that I am who I say I am, at a time and place when we are not under surveillance, but you’re just going to have to wait. Exercise both discretion and patience, Prince. This meeting doesn’t have to become a part of history. It isn’t important enough.)

  Jackie was not completely convinced. There was more to To-mi’s offer than just proving her words were true. (You want to influence this meeting between the Terrans and the V’Dan. Not just smooth over the whole histamine problem. You want access to me, because I’m the Ambassador . . . and access to him, because he’s Imperial Family. All of it behind the scenes.)

  That earned her a slight smile, one felt more mentally than seen physically. (History has judged you well. Seemingly sweet, seemingly innocent . . . but not naïve,) To-mi replied. (I’m looking forward to watching it unfold firsthand, so to speak. As for your accusation . . . it is true insofar as I wish to avoid mucking up time. But I only know the grand-picture details, and I cannot interfere too much.)

  (Time travel shouldn’t exist, period, because of predestination paradox,) Jackie pointed out. That earned her a mental snort. As their conversation went on, the awareness of the room around them was starting to fade, turning into a table in the vast, quiet warehouse where she liked to cleanse and center her mind. The physical woman, To-mi, didn’t move, but the one inside their joint vision rolled her eyes.

  (If you go back in time to slaughter your own grandfather, there is no paradox; you just end up having your motivation shifted to a different reason for killing that particular person because someone else becomes your grandfather at that point. Your actions do not destroy your own existence. They can, however . . . destroy others.) There was a stark sobriety to her gaze in the aetherspace where their inner selves sat. A moment later, and the blue-eyed, Asiatic-looking woman blinked, banishing it. Her neutrally polite look returned in its place.

  Either this woman was the universe’s greatest actress, or she’d had a very long time to practice such things. Jackie was beginning to believe it just might be the latter. Every one of To-mi’s thoughts was genuine, but organized, with no stray subthoughts roaming around. Very well shielded, even internally.

  (Well, then. What shall we talk about for the next two hours or so?) Jackie asked. (If you cannot tell us much about the future, and not much about yourself . . .)

  (Actually, I was hoping to catch up on the happenings back on Earth in the last couple of decades. I never got to find out what happened in the entertainment series Alexander the Great. They deviated a few times from the original stories, but they were getting most of the historical daily-life details fairly accurate.)

  (I suppose this is where you tell us you lived through that era?) Jackie asked, skeptically.

  To-mi grinned at her. (I was on Earth, yes, but I was in China, actually. With this face, I could go almost anywhere in the temperate zones. By the time I heard about Alexander’s conquests reaching India, I was thousands of kilometers away. And by the time I got to Babylon, he was dead and his putative heirs were squabbling over their inheritance rights. But the daily life, they got mostly right.)

  (Well, I could see if the series is in our entertainment files,) Jackie offered. (I was more interested in other shows at that age, so I’ve never seen it. We haven’t put together any packages for entertainment-show exchanges yet, because we haven’t enough speakers in each language yet, never mind translators.)

  (If it helps, I could offer suggestions—not precognitively directed, just some ideas—on various things you can trade for, and in what order for priority,) To-mi offered. (I do have a fairly good grasp on what the two sides could offer, and peaceful trade agreements are definitely something I’d like to see negotiated.)

  (I’ll listen to your advice,) Jackie agreed.

  (And I’ll take mental notes for our side as well,) Li’eth confirmed. (I don’t know if I’ll be given many chances to act as a liaison just yet, but I should be prepared.)

  (Mm, yes, the Gestalt pairing. That’s going to be interesting. Some will believe, and some will refuse to believe—and that, I can tell you, has as much to do with your lack of jungen as anything,) she added to Jackie. (But I’m sure you’re beginning to be aware of that. You’re also from a culture where anyone can become anything, a very fluid hierarchy of social status. The prince is not . . . but I’m pleased to see you do seem to have gained some mental flexibility in recent years, yes?)

  (Through the military, yes,) he admitted, flushing a little. (Are you reading my thoughts?)

  (It can’t be helped at my strength, particularly as we’re touching. But as the Psi League says, what was yours remains yours. I would no more share your secrets with anyone than I would my own,) To-mi told both of them. (And since I fully intend to walk away from this meeting with my anonymity intact, so will your privacy . . . Yes, that’s a wise decision, deciding to wait until after we’re no longer in proximity to each other before the two of you discuss this whole session.

  (I suggest we get back to the topic of trade goods,) the odd woman continued. (It’s safest. Obviously, you will want to prioritize artificial gravity in exchange for something, but I’d suggest trading ceristeel plating for it. Hyperrelay communications is your biggest point of leverage, so don’t—sorry, Your Highness—give it away.)

  (We had already considered that,) Jackie replied smoothly. She could feel a touch of annoyance from Li’eth but couldn’t tell if it was from st
ating the obvious or withholding a huge advantage. (The military advised the Council not to give that one away. Ceristeel, though . . . are you sure it’ll be of interest? What about whatever the Alliance uses for ship plating?)

  To-mi shook her head. Not in reality, just in the virtual telepathic space Jackie had created for them. (Ceristeel is better at resisting damage from impacts, and vastly better at a combination of absorbing, dissipating, and deflecting energy weapons. With very minor modifications, an exterior hull of ceristeel can be retrofitted to most ships in a fraction of the time it would take to build new ones. Particularly fighter craft, as those above all others tend to be standardized and thus uniform in shape anyway.

  (Your lasers are okay, but right now, Tlassian designs are vastly superior, with more calories per kilo of fuel. Which means that hydrogenerators are going to be the big bargaining chip if you keep the hyperarrays and hyperrelays to yourselves for a while. That’s going to revolutionize everything on its own, even though it won’t be integratable into the military for a few years yet, since engines are harder to redesign and replace than just adding an extra layer of hull plating. For now, I’d say focus that more on the civilian bargaining side of things.)

  Jackie shook her head. (The catalyst is a proprietary item, same as accessing hyperspace.)

  (Oh, they won’t be able to manufacture that for years, don’t worry. But portable generators that run on water? It’ll shake up the biofuel farmers,) To-mi allowed, (but it’ll be a boon for insystem haulers to start amassing ice for processing. Cheap fuel means that a lot more off-world mining can be done, which will preserve the environments of a lot of colonyworlds, M-class or otherwise.)

  (Ehm-what?) Li’eth asked.

  (M-class, what we call Earth-like planets, suitable for sustaining Human life,) Jackie explained. (The designation came from an old entertainment program. Astrophysicists balked for years over whether or not to use it, but it was so prevalent in nonscientific culture that they eventually caved in. We’re still classifying the other letters of the alphabet, but I know that the V’Dan geophysicists who shared their technological definitions for such things have been giving Lars no end of thrills on trying to match their versions with the theoretical classifications built up around the alphabet structure.)

  (When did he do that?) Li’eth asked, distracted.

  (It was while you were being grilled at the Tower on Kaho’lawe, in the week or so before we left. Lars sent me a message bubbling over with sheer joy on the findings, and asking me to ask your people if they knew of any planets near our space which we could begin colonizing. The faster we can get our mining and such out of the Sol System, the happier our environmentalists will be.) She paused and rolled her eyes mentally, virtually. (Not that they won’t complain about mucking up the ecology of other worlds, but they’re less concerned about airless planets and asteroids, so on and so forth.)

  (Speaking of colonizing, that’s going to be an important one, but don’t rush it, either,) To-mi cautioned them. (The most efficient way to colonize would be to jointly colonize a planet, since the V’Dan have the know-how and the resources, while the Terrans have the heavy population pressure at the moment. But it’ll have several cultural hurdles to get past first.)

  (The biggest being the perception of anyone without jungen being nothing more than a child,) Jackie muttered.

  (At first, yes, but the biggest is actually something of a much more long-term consequence,) To-mi cautioned. (By that, I mean, who is in charge of the Human race. Do you join the V’Dan Empire? Do you have the V’Dan Empire join you? Do you remain separate entities? Think about it, Ambassador. If most of your worlds are jointly colonized, particularly at first, it’s going to cause a lot of pressure in the Empire to take you under their wing . . . again, with the perception of jungenless being juvenile,) she allowed. (But Earth is the Motherworld of your joint species. Should it be relegated to a junior role?)

  (I . . . can’t deny that most of the Empire will look down on your people for having just one system settled,) Li’eth agreed reluctantly. (Particularly when we have several. You’re an insystem empire, but we’re an interstellar one.)

  Jackie, thinking, asked, (Would hydrofuel technology be worth bartering for assistance in colonizing our own worlds, do you think? Not joint colonization, but just . . . hiring ships and equipment and experts to train our own people how to do things efficiently?)

  To-mi nodded slowly before turning her attention to the prince seated with them. (Possibly . . . What do you think, Highness?)

  In reality, he kept their hands linked, but telepathically . . . he sat back and rubbed his chin, thinking. (Possibly. We’ve had problems balancing the environmental needs versus our economic needs through using biopetrochemicals. Particularly as only two of the V’Dan-style—your M-class—worlds have had massive deposits of archaic petrochemicals—I asked Meioa Thorsson about what your fuel history was like, and he explained about the ancient forests, the lack of bacteria and such that could digest cellulose for millions of years, and the eventual conversion of the fallen forest materials into oils and so forth.

  (That was not too dissimilar to what V’Dan experienced, and Beautiful-Blue, and Chchchch—those are the Gatsugi and K’Katta homeworlds, respectively,) he explained in an aside to Jackie. (Compared to that, water ice is abundant in many systems, including moons and planets that aren’t comfortably inhabitable, as well as comets and other fragments. Plants raised to be processed into petrochemicals require a great deal of space that could be put to other uses though they’re quite useful for helping convert carbon dioxide into oxygen for life-support needs while the plants are growing.)

  (You’ll always need some form of oil for greasing machinery,) To-mi dismissed. (The point is, Earth needs to expand onto other words to alleviate its massive population-density problems, and hydrofuel-energy generation should be strong enough to balance the ledger for assistance with your basic colonization needs. I’m not saying it’s supereffective and will pay for everything—your skills at bartering will be put to the test, I’m sure—but it is a very strong bargaining chip when you consider the environmental needs, the prevalence of it, and the considerably faster and cheaper process of purifying water versus creating biodiesel-style fuels. Not to mention how environmentally friendly it is by comparison. Solar power can handle stationary needs for houses and businesses, but large vehicles and heavy payloads require a much more powerful, more consistently reliable energy source.)

  (I’ll keep all of that in mind,) Jackie promised her. Since they had at least a couple more hours to go, and a lot that could potentially be discussed, she moved on to the next topic. (What do you think about trading food? Dr. Qua was talking about waiting at least a full year of in-depth research and genetics information being exchanged, studied, and tested, to make sure everything can be digested, and all possible pathogenic contaminants can be accounted for and controlled . . .)

  MAY 5, 2287 C.E.

  DEMBER 28, 9507 V.D.S.

  The plain, metal-encased pen rolled back across the table for a full meter and came to a stop in front of His Rather Bored Highness. It stopped precisely on a row of triangles embedded under the clear lacquer; the table had triangles, squares, and rectangles beneath its polished surface, giving it some visual artwork in an otherwise bland and boring conference room sized only for six people at most.

  “Again,” Jackie directed patiently, releasing the object from her mental grasp. “Focus on moving the pen away from you, exactly the length of your hand from wrist to longest fingertip, but no more than that.”

  (This is boring!) he protested. (Well, not boring, but . . . I am feeling so restless right now. Can we do something else?)

  “Control is essential. Move the pen precisely, Your Highness.” She felt it, too, an itch under her skin to be doing something, anything. Something physical, at any rate. But they were now on a countdown to being released from quar
antine, and that meant she wanted Li’eth’s powers firmly under control. The others could teach him some control over his pyrokinetic and auramantic abilities, but she was the best person to get him to work on his telekinetic control. (Once you can do that three times in a row, I promise we’ll move on to something else.)

  (You feel it, too, don’t you?) Li’eth asked. He didn’t bother with the pen. (The longer we’ve been cooped up in quarantine, the worse it has grown. It . . . I feel like we aren’t touching enough?)

  She pondered that. (Possibly. We may need more than just arms against arms or a simple hug. That’s worrisome, though.)

  He picked up her underthoughts. (They’re going to have to deal with it sooner or later,) Li’eth reminded her. (We’re a holy pairing. To separate us is anathema. If we can prove it to the Temples’ satisfaction.)

  (I’m not sure how cooperative they’ll be after my fellow psis and I sort of trounced their holy beliefs with our very scientific demonstrations,) Jackie reminded him. (We tried to keep things factual and impersonal, and just strictly, “We decided to approach everything from a scientific standpoint when we finally had a machine that could measure the strength of these abilities when they were being used,” but . . .)

  (Being told by children that the children know better than the adults . . . yes, they weren’t too terribly happy. If nothing else, the important person to consult is Her Eternity. She has final say over everything,) Li’eth reminded her. (If you can get her to understand, her word is literally law, when she commands something.)

  (That will probably have to wait until we are in person, when it is easier to explain such things and be judged sincere and truthful.) She realized after a moment what he was doing, and gave him a chiding look. (No more stalling, Li’eth. If you can move that pen, rolling or lifting and gliding, your choice, exactly a handspan three times . . . then we will sit and cuddle. And see if a bit more intimacy than merely holding hands will stifle our restlessness.)