Enemy Papers

by Barry B. Longyear

  Nicole laughed and held her hands to her face. “My eyes. When will they be well?”

  “Pur Sonaan is working hard on the problem-”

  “Tora Soam, there are a great many USEF soldiers in the Madah right now.”

  “And?”

  “While you would put me up in security, they will still be vemadah. I would rather count on them than on the charity of a Drac.”

  Tora Soam was silent for a moment, then Nicole felt it bend over the bed and pick up Pur Sonaan’s player. A click, a whiz, then another click. The Drac played the player on her lap. “Learn an old lesson, Joanne Nicole.”

  She heard its footsteps leaving as the voice from the player filled the room. It was the narration of Namndas, Shizumaat’s senior at the Temple of Uhe.

  …the days passed, and by the time two new classes were formed, and my charges occupied the south end of the Madah Wall, Ebneh stood before the class to hear their recitations of Aakva, Rhada, Daultha, and Uhe.

  When all had completed their recitations, Ebneh held out its hands. “We call the Story of Uhe the Koda Ovida; and what is the first truth?”

  There are, of course, many truths within the first Koda. The student’s task is to draw from the story the greatest truth. The first student stood and spoke the accepted truth of the story: “That it is Aakva’s law that the servants of Aakva will speak the true wishes of Aakva.”

  Ebneh nodded, pleased. “And do you all agree?”

  All of the students nodded, except for Shizumaat. Shizumaat stared through the columns at Uhe’s tomb until Ebneh called out. “Shizumaat, were you listening?”

  Shizumaat’s eyes turned toward Ebneh. “I was listening.”

  “Do you agree with this student’s interpretation of the Koda Ovida?”

  “No.” Shizumaat looked back toward Uhe’s tomb.

  Ebneh stood next to Shizumaat. “You will stand!” Shizumaat stood and looked at Ebneh. “What truth do you see in the Koda Ovida?”

  “Ebneh, I see that a rule stood between the Mavedah and survival; I see that the rule was nothing sacred, but made by Sindie; and I see that Uhe saw this and cast the rule aside to save its people. The truth I see, then, is that rules are meant to serve the Sindie; the Sindie is not meant to serve rules.”

  Ebneh stared at Shizumaat for a long moment; and then it asked: “Then, Shizumaat, should we, or should we not, obey the wishes of Aakva handed down by the servants?”

  “If the rule is good, it should be used; if it is not good, it should be cast aside.”

  Ebneh’s eyes narrowed, and those who sat near Shizumaat edged away. “Shizumaat, do you say that the laws of Aakva can be false?”

  I closed my eyes. Ebneh was forcing Shizumaat into blasphemy. Shizumaat was smart enough to know this; it was too stubborn, however, to bow to the pain the servants would inflict on its body upon the admission of the blasphemy.

  “Shizumaat spoke: “If the laws come from the servants, then the laws come from mortal, fallible creatures, and can be false.”

  Ebneh stood upright. “But if the laws come from Aakva?”

  “Then Aakva can be and has been wrong. This I saw in the Story of Uhe.”

  A terrible silence came down upon the temple. I rushed up to Shizumaat and grabbed it by the arm. “Think, Shizumaat! Think upon what you say!”

  Shizumaat pulled its arm away from my grasp. “I have thought upon it, Namndas. That is why I answered as I did.”

  Ebneh pushed me away from the student. “Do you know what you will suffer because of your words?”

  Shizumaat smiled. “Yes, Ebneh. I know the rules.”

  “You know them, yet you scorn them?”

  “I question them; I question their source; I question their validity. I know the servants will beat me for what I have said; but I ask you this: will beating me prove the existence of Aakva and the truth of its laws?”

  Ebneh did not answer.

  In the morning, with the Parent of All illuminating the eastern columns of the temple, I climbed the steps and found Shizumaat kneeling between the columns, facing Aakva.

  Shizumaat’s face rested against the paving stones. The the stones were stained with the deep yellow of the student’s blood. Shizumaat’s eyes were closed, its chest heaving. Behind Shizumaat were two servants holding whipping rods. Ebneh stood to Shizumaat’s side and spoke: “Look up, Shizumaat. Look up!”

  Shizumaat placed its hands upon the blood-stained stones and pushed until it sat back upon its heels, the morning light of Aakva showing the grey of Shizumaat’s face.

  “I am looking.”

  “What do you see?”

  Shizumaat teetered for a moment, its eyes squinted, then it took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I see the great morning light we call Aakva.”

  Ebneh bent over and hissed into the student’s ear. “And is that light a god?”

  “I do not know. When you say god… what do you mean?”

  “God! God is god!” Ebneh grabbed Shizumaat’s shoulder with one hand and pointed at Aakva with the other. “Is that the Parent of All?”

  Shizumaat’s shoulders slumped and it slowly shook its head. “I do not know.”

  “What does your back tell you, Shizumaat?”

  “My back tells me many things, Ebneh. It tells me that you are displeased with me; it tells me that live meat whipped with sufficient enthusiasm will split and bleed; it tells me that the process is painful.” Shizumaat looked up at Ebneh. “It does not tell me that Aakva is a god; it does not tell me that the laws of the servants are sacred truths.”

  Ebneh pointed at the two rod-carrying servants. “Lay into this one until its back does speak truth to it!”

  One of the servants turned and walked into the temple. The other studied Shizumaat for a moment and then handed its rod to Ebneh. “Shizumaat’s back has learned all that a rod can teach it. Perhaps you can think of a more persuasive argument.” Then the second servant turned and went into the temple.

  Ebneh stared after the departing servant, then threw away the rod and looked down at Shizumaat. “Why do you defy Aakva?”

  “I do not. I only tell the truth that I see. Would you prefer that I lie to you? Would that serve your truth?”

  Ebneh shook its head. “You will shame your parent.”

  “My parent’s ignorance is not evidence of a god, Ebneh.”

  Shizumaat bowed its head until Ebneh turned and walked into the temple. Then Shizumaat looked up at me. “Namndas, help me to your room. I cannot make it by myself.”

  I pulled the student to its feet. “Do you not want me to take you to your own home?”

  Shizumaat laughed. “A beating in defense of my understanding of truth is one thing, Namndas. I am not up to my parent beating me because I was beaten. That seems somehow to be taking the gesture past integrity into foolishness.”

  Shizumaat closed its eyes and slumped into my arms. I lifted it and carried the student from the temple to my room off the square—

  Nicole turned off the player.

  …taking the gesture past integrity into foolishness.

  She thought to herself: Will I serve my purpose by not accepting Tora Soam’s offer? Will I shorten the war? Will I do anything more than inflict an additional burden on vemadah such as Tokyo Rose? Am I being stubborn for the sake of some abstract-

  “Well?”

  Nicole jumped at the sound of the voice. It was Tora Soam’s. “I thought… you had gone.”

  “Obviously you were in error. What is your decision?”

  Nicole thought for a moment, then nodded. “I will come to stay at your estate, Tora Soam.”

  “Emmmm. There is a saying-no one knows the author’s name. But it observes that telling a human that his clothing is on fire takes a sharp stick, a large mirror, and a loud voice.” Tora Soam paused for a moment. “It is just possible that the stick is unnecessary. Until you are well, then, Joanne Nicole.”

  Its footsteps left the doorway and faded down the corrid
or. Nicole sat silently for a moment, then punched at the player, continuing with a random portion of the Koda Nuvida.

  That night, first I noticed that the temple lights had not all been raised to the proper height. Then I saw young Shizumaat, its face upraised, dancing in slow whorls upon Uhe’s Tomb!

  I rushed to the center of the temple and came to a stop with my hands upon the stone cover of the vault. “Shizumaat! Shizumaat, come down! Come down or I will execute you before the servants can get at you with their rods!”

  Shizumaat stopped its dance and looked down at me. “Namndas, come up here and join me. I have the most wonderful thing to show you.”

  “You would have me dance upon Uhe’s grave?”

  “Come up here, Namndas.”

  Shizumaat returned to its whirling, and I grabbed the edge of the cover and pulled myself up, swearing to break Shizumaat into three hundred pieces. Once I stood, Shizumaat pointed toward the ceiling.

  “Look up, Namndas.”

  The force in its words compelled me to look up, and what I saw was the disarray of temple lights. Their heights were arranged so that the lights were equally distant from a point just above the tomb, forming a hemisphere. And not all of the lamps were lit.

  “Shizumaat, we will both be driven from the temple for this night’s work.”

  “Don’t you see it? Look up, Namndas! Don’t you see it?”

  “See what?”

  “Dance, Namndas. Dance! Turn to your right.”

  I turned, saw the lights whirl about me, then I stopped and faced my charge. “Shizumaat! This only makes my head swim! We must climb down from-”

  “Aaah!” Shizumaat jumped from the tomb and hit the stone floor. running toward the eastern wall. I jumped and ran after.

  When I reached the great stairs, Shizumaat was standing far into the dark center of the city square. I ran down the stairs, across the square, and stopped in the center as I angrily grabbed Shizumaat’s left arm. “I shall gladly take a rod and do the servants’ work for them, you crazy-”

  “Look up, Namndas! Curse your thick skull! Look up!”

  Still holding onto its arm, I looked up. What I saw were Aakva’s children arranged in a pattern similar to the pattern of the temple’s lights, but tilted toward the blue light of The Child That Never Moves.

  “You have reproduced the arrangement of the night sky.”

  “Yes-”

  “But this will not save your skin, Shizu-”

  Shizumaat pointed toward the speck of blue light.

  “Turn your face toward The Child That Never Moves. Then, Namndas, turn slowly to your right.”

  I did so. The implications of what I saw turned my legs to water, and I sat with a thump upon the packed soil of the square. I put out my hands and touched the unyielding soil. “It cannot be!”

  Shizumaat squatted next to me. “Then you have seen it, too!”

  I nodded. “Yes, I have seen it.”

  With the morning’s light, the servants of Aakva found both of us dancing upon Uhe’s tomb…

  NINE

  We stood there, the mortar drying upon our hands. and Shizumaat pointed at the column of rocks we had built.

  “You shall wait for me here. Namndas; at this mark. If I am correct, I shall see you again, and at this place.”

  I looked from the Akkujah out over the Madah, then back at Shizumaat. “And if you do not return? What then, Shizumaat?”

  “Then either I am wrong about the shape of this world, or I did not have the strength to prove myself right.”

  “If you fail… If you fail. Shizumaat, what should I do?”

  Shizumaat placed a hand upon my arm. “Poor Namndas. As always. it is your choice. You can forget me; you can forget the things we have learned; or you can attempt to prove that which I am attempting to prove.”

  The Talman

  The Story of Shizumaat. Koda Nuvida

  Joanne Nicole’s first shower. The water pierced her skin, making her feel as though she were in a high-velocity stream of needles. It hurt, but felt. so good. Vunseleh, operating the controls, cut off the water. Slightly warm air, smelling of flowers, shot up from the floor.

  “Turn in the air column, Joanne Nicole, and it will dry you.”

  She turned in the rush of sweet-smelling air, running her fingers through her hair to fan it. “Vunseleh, what is that smell?”

  “Smell? Oh, there is a fine spray of oil in the air column. It is for aesthetic purposes, and it softens the skin.”

  “Is it safe… for me? I remember what happened with the burn ointment.”

  “It is safe. It has been used on humans many times with no ill effects.”

  The blower stopped and her hair was still wet. She felt her skin. It was not wet, but it felt slightly moist-pleasant. She could feel no scarring from the burns. “Do you have a towel?”

  “A towel?”

  “Something-a cloth-to dry my hair.”

  A hand touched her hair, then withdrew. “Emmmm. It is not good to keep you in the dry cycle until that mess is finished.” Vunseleh’s footsteps left the shower room then returned. Nicole felt a robe thrust into her hands. “Use this. I have another robe for you to wear.” She threw the robe over her head and began drying her hair. “Joanne Nicole?”

  “Yes, Vunseleh?”

  “Is hair functional?”

  Nicole paused for a moment, then continued rubbing the, robe against her hair. “I suppose not. Why?”

  “We could have it removed. It would make your cleansings more efficient; and less time consuming.”

  She held the wet robe out until the Drac took it, then used her fingers to again fan her hair. “Thank you, Vunseleh, but I think I’ll keep it. Sentimental reasons.”

  It handed her another robe, and she began putting it on. “I have seen female humans with such hair before. Usually it is more… even.”

  Once her robe was on, Nicole felt her hair. On the right side of her head, the hair was short and ragged. “The fire, Vunseleh. My hair was burned in the fire. I could use a… I can’t think of the word. My hair should be cut to make it even.”

  “Emmmm.” Vunseleh took her hand and led her from the shower stall. “We should be able to do that. Is anesthetic required?”

  “No. It is a routine cosmetic task.”

  “Emmmm. I will see what can be done.”

  Nicole felt Vunseleh’s hands open the front of her robe, then one of its hands cupped her left breast and squeezed it. She pulled back and tightened the robe around her. “What do you think you are doing?”

  “Those things-you must look your best before being presented to the Ovjetah. Those things ruin the drape of the robe.”

  Joanne Nicole chuckled a bit nervously. “I don’t know what you have in mind, Vunseleh, but these things stay put. Hands off, understand?”

  “Perhaps they could be strapped down. They seem sufficiently malleable -”

  “Forget it!”

  There were many English words Joanne Nicole wished had equivalents in Dracon. “Just forget it, Vunseleh, understand?”

  “If you wish.”

  “I wish.”

  Vunseleh led her back to her bed. She climbed upon it and turned to Vunseleh as she wound and draped the robe about herself.

  “Is there anything else you need, Joanne Nicole?”

  She thought for a moment. “Yes. Just who is Tora Soam? What is the Ovjetah of the Talman Kovah?”

  There was a very long silence. Then Vunseleh spoke. “Considering your content of knowledge, I am not certain how I should answer.” The Drac paused again. “How much of The Talman do you know?”

  “I have listened to The Myth of Aakva, The Story of Uhe, and parts of The Story of Shizumaat.”

  “Emmmm. If I should tell you that Tora Soam is the most important being among the seventy-two planets of the Dracon Chamber, would you understand?”

  “Tora Soam is your political or military leader?”

  “No. Nothing of the sor
t.”

  “A kovah; I know what a school is. Is Tora Soam a teacher?”

  “Of a sort-but more than that. Much more.” Vunseleh was silent for a long time. “Joanne Nicole?”

  “Yes?”

  “Would you object to listening to the entire document of The Talman?”

  “Why should I?”

  “Your answers are there, if you have the wit to comprehend them. I shall send Vencha Eban to you with a pair of cutters. Tell Vencha what you want done with your hair.”

  Vunseleh’s footsteps left the room. Nicole groped around upon her bed until she found the player. She indexed to the Koda Nuvida, “The Story of Shizumaat,” and stretched out to listen.

  Rhada said that God is;

  Uhe said that God is wrong;

  Shizumaat said that god is irrelevant…

  In the days that followed Joanne Nicole listened to The Talman several times. It was more than the history of a race. It was the story of the evolution and use of method: talma.

  The word talma had no equivalent in English. The word seemed to apply to anything composed of system: direction, ordered events, life, equation, methods, law, procedure, path, road, science, sanity.

  In the period containing late human prehistory, Shizumaat intuitively came up with what is essentially the scientific method. Through its method, the young student derived its theory of worlds: the rotation and configuration of Sindie; that Aakva and its children were fires at varying distances; that the other stars could have about them bodies such as Sindie; and the concept of Universe.

  To gather evidence in support of its theory, Shizumaat traveled the equator of the planet, leaving the faithful Namndas to wait at the monument the two of them had built. Many years later, after discovering many new oceans, lands, and peoples, Shizumaat appeared in the east and came to the monument.

  At the return of Shizumaat, Namndas was ecstatic; but Shizumaat’s mind was occupied with a new problem: understanding the method-talma-it had used to see what others could not.

  Before Shizumaat’s execution at the hands of the Servants of Aakva, it had communicated its conclusions to Namndas, who in turn taught these things to Vehya.