Enemy Papers

by Barry B. Longyear

  Vencha Eban was snipping away at her hair. “Joanne Nicole, did you not find Shizumaat’s adventures exciting?”

  Nicole thought for a moment. “Yes, but… do you see the greatness of the thing it did?”

  “Which thing? Its struggle to cross the Madah? The crossing of the poisoned seas? Shizumaat outwitting the Hadyi, or its combat with Seuorka, Chief of the Omela?”

  “I meant Shizumaat’s discoveries: its theory of worlds; its discovery of talma?”

  “But everyone knows that, Joanne Nicole.”

  Nicole felt slightly exasperated. “They know it now, because Shizumaat taught it then!”

  The snipping stopped.

  “I do not understand why you are angry.”

  “Vencha Eban, can you not see that Shizumaat’s discovery of talma is more important than all of its other adventures combined?”

  The snipping resumed for a moment, then stopped. “I do not fly or fight among the stars, Joanne Nicole. I clean floors.”

  The snipping continued.

  In the Koda Ayvida, Vehya taught talma to Mistan, who used it both to improve talma, and to invent writing. Mistan’s students reproduced the stories of Aakva, Uhe, and Shizumaat; and Shizumaat’s talma spread throughout the world of the Sindie.

  The Koda Schada told of the increasing oppression of the Servants of Aakva’s rule, their overthrow by Kulubansu, and almost five hundred years after Shizumaat’s birth, the story of Ioa, who founded the first Talman Kovah.

  The Schada concluded with the invasion of the Sindie by the Hadyi, the destruction of the kovah and the dispersal of the Talmani, and the death of Lurrvanna under the rule of Rodaak The Barbarian. Then followed almost four hundred years of war as the different races of the planet Sindie struggled for dominance.

  The Koda Itheda told of Aydan and the War of Ages. Aydan, a secret Talman Master, applied talma toward the task of waging war, then toward the task of establishing and maintaining peace. As the warring neared its end, another Talman Master, Tochalla, began the movement to reassemble the Talmani and to rebuild the Talman Kovah.

  The following books of The Talman tell of the next six thousand years of progress and application of talma under many Jetai: Cohneret, Maltak, Di, Lita, Faldaam, Zineru, Dalna.

  Throughout this period, talma is made the core of a unified science of existence. By 2000 BC, the Sindie had made its first probes into space.

  The Story of Dalna, in the Koda Siayvida, is the last of the Sindie books of The Talman.

  Pur Sonaan visited to inform Nicole that the solution to her blindness was still outside its talma. “But I am constantly working to move the limits. Joanne Nicole.”

  “Pur Sonaan, you are called a Jetah, but of the Chirn Kovah.”

  “Yes.”

  “But you speak of talma the same as any Talmani.”

  “I am Talmani. I apply talma toward the goal of health.”

  “When I was an intelligence officer, I saw recordings of Drac prisoners. Soldiers; Tsien Denvedah. They, too, spoke of talma. One of them called itself a Jetah.”

  “The soldier and the health master are in the same discipline. Joanne Nicole. They specialize according to the goals they desire and the diseases that stand in the way of those goals.”

  The first of the Draco books, the Koda Sishada tells first of the division of the Talmani. Almost two hundred years after the death of Dalna, it is proven that Sindie is a dying planet.

  A movement begins within the Talmani to escape Sindie and find other planets upon which to live. The larger faction chooses to remain on Sindie, hoping for a solution; or as the ancient Mistan wrote in the Koda Ayvida: “Talma shows each one its path. But, as beings of choice, we can choose not to see the signs.”

  …Mitzak reading the news to her, and from all she could tell, the war was stalled; going badly for everyone. Military casualties were into the millions; civilian casualties were into the billions…

  “Mitzak, what are you going to do after I leave here?”

  “My plans are made.”

  “Are you going back with the Drac Fleet?”

  “No. Thanks to my service to Tora Soam, I am being allowed to continue my work at the Talman Kovah. I think I have had enough of this war…”

  The Koda Shishada concluded with the Story of Atavu, the Ovjetah of the Talman Kovah, who left with the armada of generation ships toward the unknown. Two hundred and forty years later, Poma writes the Koda Sitheda. Poma is one of the founders of Draco and the Ovjetah of Draco’s Talman Kovah. The stories of Eam, Namvaac, and Ditaar, the last three books of The Talman, tell of the development of Draco and the colonization of many other planets, and the beginning and end of the Thousand Year Rebellion, which saw the formation of the first Dracon Chamber more than a century before the birth of Copernicus.

  Until the USE had come into conflict with the Dracon Chamber over the issue of the planet Amadeen, Dracs had seen nothing but hundreds of years of peace…

  Talma.

  Talma is composed of fundamental rules of situation assessment, goal definition, and goal achievement; methods for finding out where one is, where one wants to go, and how to get from the former to the latter; individually and/or collectively. It is the foundation for all activity, from individual conduct and social relationships to science, business, and law…

  The Jetai, masters of the Talman, are the ones who study, invent, experiment with, and apply these fundamental rules. The Talman Kovah is their institution; as much laboratory as it is library and philosophers’ hall. The Ovjetah is the First Master of the Talman Kovah. And Tora Soam was the current Ovjetah: the overseer of talma.

  Tora Soam was the Drac equivalent of a chief economist political theorist, attorney-general, first military strategist, the board of the USE Academy of Sciences-and too many other things-all rolled into one person.

  And if the war ever paused long enough for a truce, Tora Soam or some subsequent Ovjetah would advise the negotiations for peace. And Nicole felt that peace would have to come, or there would be no human race. The Dracs had fought an Interplanetary war for a thousand years without a moment of shaken resolve. Tokyo Rose had said that the war would not last forever. But the Dracs were prepared to fight for all of the forever that belonged to Joanne Nicole.

  Then came the day she was to leave the Chirn Kovah.

  On her feet were open sandals. Everyone who cared to had wished her well; and Pur Sonaan had promised to keep her informed of any progress in its research efforts. Pur had also added a cryptic sentiment:

  “Joanne Nicole, if things go well in the future, you will have great cause to hate me. When that time comes, I ask you to remember this moment. The things I have done…” Pur searched for words. “This I should not say. May the many mornings find you well.”

  Nicole sat on the edge of her bed, feeling the softness of her new robe, slightly apprehensive about leaving the known of the room for the unknown on the other side of the walls.

  There were strange footsteps. They halted and there was a moment of silence. “I am Tora Kia. I have been sent to bring you to my parent’s estate.”

  She stood up. “My name is Joanne Nicole.”

  Hard footsteps crossed the room and a rough hand grasped her left arm. “We must go now.”

  There was the sharp odor of happy paste. Nicole reached for the arm that was holding hers and touched the cuff of a sleeve. Drac civilians wear robes.

  “Who are you?”

  “I said my name is Tora Kia. I am the firstborn of Tora Soam.”

  “This sleeve says you are wearing a military uniform.”

  “I am-was-Tsien Denvedah.” There was a laugh; an almost hysterical laugh. “You will find the other sleeve empty, human.”

  TEN

  And Lurrvanna looked up from its bandaged stumps and spoke to its students:

  “Talma is forbidden to us. The Talman Kovah has been destroyed. Our friends have been either murdered or frightened into hiding. Our writings earn their
authors the loss of their hands. Rodaak and its soldiers would have The Talman disappear from Sindie.

  “But memory is the refuge of the Talmani, and it is there where we shall hide The Talman from Rodaak. Fix the words into your minds; then take them, whisper them to others, and have those others fix into their minds The Talman.

  “The eternity of truth makes a friend of time. In time, Rodaak will no longer be. In time, we shall make known again the value of talma. In time, The Talman will again be written and the walls of the new Talman Kovah will stand upon these broken stones. In time, tomorrow will come.”

  The Talman

  The Story of Ioa and Lurrvanna. Koda Schada

  As Nicole was being hurried from the Chirn Kovah into Tora Kia’s waiting vehicle, a strange thought crept into her mind: she was curious about these creatures, and what would happen to her; but, if she could have seen, she would have been terrified. Terrified of everything.

  The loathing fairly radiated from Tora Kia, but it could easily have been human hate. The strangeness-the alien unknown-of everything was made almost familiar because the images from her eyes were prevented from overpowering her other senses and her ability to think.

  Nicole was seated upon plush upholstery, a door slammed, and she inhaled the eternal smell of new car. More doors slamming, a weight depressed the upholstery to her left, a whine, then a gentle pressure against her back as the vehicle accelerated. The sounds of other traffic came dimly through the vehicle’s sound insulation.

  Tora Kia barked out an order: “To the estate, Baadek.”

  “Your parent asked me to deliver these notes -”

  “Then return to the city and deliver them-after you have delivered this… guest to the estate!”

  Both of the other occupants of the vehicle remained silent as the sounds of traffic died and the change in pressure on Nicole’s eardrums said that they were climbing in altitude. Still there were the sounds of the road. They were moving up into some mountains.

  “You are silent, human.”

  “I didn’t think, Tora Kia, that you would appreciate conversation coming from my direction.”

  “Dah!”

  They rode in silence a moment longer.

  “Tora Kia, your parent doesn’t seem to carry your weight of hate.”

  “My parent! My parent has all of its limbs. To Tora Soam, the war is… an immense puzzle to be solved; a fascinating problem. I think my parent basks in the size and complexity of the puzzle. You and I are nothing more than two factors among the trillions that comprise this puzzle.”

  “You seem bitter.”

  “And they say that you are blind.” Heavy sarcasm.

  They seemed to go higher, the road twisting left and right. The silence in the compartment was oppressive. The sharp smell of happy paste again assaulted her nostrils and the one called Baadek spoke. “Kia, your parent-”

  “Mind the road, Baadek! When Tora Soam has carried its butcher ax against the enemy on Amadeen, then its views upon my medications will be of interest to me.” The sharp smell remained in the compartment. “Ah, human. What an ugly thing you are.”

  “It would concern me more, Tora Kia, if I could see.”

  The Drac laughed, then that sharp smell grew sharper. “It is true. The war has treated us both badly, human. Was your life’s work dependent upon your eyes? That is my sincere wish.”

  “Why?”

  “I am looking for an equality of disaster.”

  “I’ve seen Drac soldiers with artificial limbs before. Those soldiers seemed to function adequately.”

  “Emmmm. True, it takes little skill to fry a human. But I am a musician, Joanne Nicole. The machine the fleet will pay to have hammered onto this stump will find the strings of a tidna difficult to master.”

  The tidna: a kind of harp. “I am sorry.”

  “Sorrow is a cheap fee.” A pause and more of that sharp smell. “Baadek! Stop here!”

  “Tora Kia, your parent will have my skin for a cape if it should find out-”

  “Stop here, you miserable fungus, or I will reach up there and pull off your head.”

  The vehicle slid to a stop and Nicole heard the door on Tora Kia’s side open as a blast of icy air entered the compartment. The Drac’s hand pulled at her left arm. “Come. Come with me, Joanne Nicole.”

  She slid across the seat and stepped out into ankle-deep snow. Tora Kia dragged her along until she had lost both of her sandals and stood barefoot.

  “Baadek! Baadek, turn off the car!”

  The whine of the car died, and on the gentle wind Nicole heard… music. Strange, haunting notes coming from below. “Down there, in the Valley, Joanne Nicole. That was my kovah.”

  They listened for a time to the sounds. It felt as though knives were being thrust again and again through her feet. “Tora Kia, I am cold.”

  “The Universe is cold.” The breeze brought her that sharp smell again. “My parent. You think it feels gratitude to you for pulling Sin Vidak from the oven?”

  “That is what Tora Soam-”

  Torn Kia’s laugh seemed to be aimed at more than its words revealed. “Tora Soam feels nothing! The Ovjetah of the Talman Kovah would have you at the estate as an object of curiosity-experimentation. Sin Vidak-that is the excuse my parent uses to make housing you acceptable in the eyes of… aaaah!”

  A strong hand slapped her face, sending her reeling into the snow. Geometric shapes flashed before her eyes as the snow covered and burned her face. As though it were far away, Nicole heard a door slam, then soft footsteps. A hand pulled at her right shoulder, lifting her face from the snow.

  Nicole pushed the hand away, sat back upon her legs, and wiped the snow from her face. There were still the mournful sounds of music on the air as the one called Baadek spoke softly to her. “I ask you a favor, human. If you do it, I will always be in your debt.” Baadek put its hands beneath her arms and lifted her to a standing position. Nicole’s face still burned from the snow and the force of Kia’s blow.

  “What’s the debt of a Drac worth?”

  “Human, Tora Kia carries the Tora line. Its behavior here would shame its parent. I ask you to be silent about what Kia did.”

  Nicole waved a hand in what she thought to be the direction of the car. “First, get me out of the snow; second, find my sandals; third, I will think about it.” Baadek began leading her toward the car and Nicole stopped dead in the snow. “But I will tell you one thing right now, Drac: if that child of a kiz hits me again, I will take off its remaining arm and stuff it down its throat!”

  “There is nothing to fear from Kia now. Kia is asleep.”

  “My feet hurt. The cold.”

  Baadek moved to her right side, placed her arm around its neck, and lifted her. As it carried her, Baadek muttered, “The war. Everything has changed since the war.”

  Nicole was too weary to answer. She was placed into the car, the door slammed, then a second slam, and the car whined to life and moved down the twisting road. They rode for a long while, then Nicole heard Tora Kia move.

  “Unh. You. Your robe is wet. Your face is red.” That sharp smell again filled the compartment.

  “Don’t you remember? You hit me.”

  “I did?” That smell grew stronger, then the voice became very quiet. “I wish I had killed you.”

  And then Nicole found out something she never knew before: Dracs snore. “Baadek?”

  “Yes, human?”

  “My name is Nicole. Joanne Nicole.”

  “Yes, Joanne Nicole?”

  “Why is Tora Kia hitting that drug?”

  “Many of the Tsien Denvedah that fought on Amadeen have the same habit. Tora Soam disapproves.”

  Nicole pulled her legs up upon the seat and rubbed her feet. She felt warm air being directed upon them, and in moments they were dry. “Thank you, Baadek.”

  “When we get to the estate, we will stop at the gate house and I will get you a dry robe to wear.”

  She continued
rubbing her feet. “Baadek, what is it to you if Tora Soam finds out that its child chews happy paste.”

  There was a long silence from the front of the car. “Nothing, I suppose. I have spent my life serving the Tora estate, probably from habit. Habit is very safe. The war soils everything, however. Perhaps I should change my habit, too.”

  Nicole’s weight was thrown from one side of the car to the other as her stomach evidenced a sickening skid, the whine of the car’s motor rising and falling in rapid succession. “It is only a guess, Baadek; but are you driving too fast?”

  The motion of the car slowed as the whine from the motor decreased. “Yes… Thank you. And my apologies.”

  She leaned her head against the back of the seat. Baadek, the long-suffering family retainer coming home to its master hauling a drug-blitzed child and a backseat driver. Nicole yawned from the drying heat blowing on her legs. Perhaps I could take some of the weight from Baadek’s already overburdened shoulders. “Baadek?”

  “Yes, Joanne Nicole?”

  “I will say nothing to Tora Soam concerning what happened today.”

  “Thank you. I will remember this.”

  “How much longer will we be riding?”

  “We are almost a third of the way to the estate.”

  The warm air and sleep tugged at her. She moved her shoulders into the upholstered corner between the door and seat, her face leaned against something soft to her left. Vaguely she felt the gentle rocking of the car…

  …Happy paste.

  There had been reports that a large percentage of USEF personnel coming back from Amadeen had the habit.

  How long had it taken Ted Makai to kick it? He never did, really. He just substituted other things.

  In the Storm Mountain officers club that time, Ted at the bar tossing down doubles. He was an island of dead gloom in a sea of laughter, trying to numb the nervous system that made him a rare exception among the Universe’s life forms.

  He ordered another.

  “Ted, aren’t you nailing those things down pretty fast?”

  He never looked up; simply waited until his fresh drink came. He took the glass, tossed down its contents, and ordered another. He looked at her.