“Family archives and those of the official government alike all have their own slant on Zhereveldonne’s ill-fated endeavor,” Cozeremi stated. His posture remained closed. He stared out the car window at the buildings and traffic blurring past.
“Of course, the villain remains the same in each version, but the heroes tend to change from archive to archive,” he added, in a tone that left Zheng unsure if he was amused or disgusted.
“So if I’m not mistaken, you are telling me you or someone you know personally has a family archive that contains information that contradicts what is contained in Non’s,” Zheng asked, pointedly.
Cozeremi chuckled at Zheng’s display of unbridled candor.
Zheng didn’t care if he committed any breaches of negotiating protocol. He was starting to get weary of the Ekkidan tendency to obfuscate and wanted to get to the point.
“Unless you can put me in contact with another family that has a seat in the House of Peers and isn’t afraid to share their archive,” Zheng continued. “It’s your word against the Non’s. And, I’m afraid that his standing as head of the first family, plus the fact your family lost its seat in the House of Peers under mysterious circumstances gives Non the upper hand.”
“My family has no oral history recordings, Herb,” Cozeremi answered, his posture remaining closed. “They were locked away in the planetary archive. Our charter to keep a pedigree and our enjoyment of those privileges that go along with it were taken from us after Zhereveldonne willingly gave up his rightful place as Prime Minister and my ancestors’ rightful place as first family.”
“He gave up those things willingly to prevent a much larger scandal that would have destroyed the House of Peers from the inside and started a civil war,” he added. “It could have also ultimately damaged any chance of normalized political relations with Earth and Zunnuki.”
Cozeremi went silent. He had a look of frustration on his face.
Zheng was about to speak when Cozeremi continued. “I don’t have the proof myself,” he said. “So I realize that makes my position tenuous at best.”
Cozeremi uncrossed his arms and softened his posture before adding, “But, the proof I’m talking about is in the Ekkidan national archives, and possibly even in the archives of some of the upper caste families who were afraid to erase what truly happened during that time.”
“If those families kept the evidence I am speaking about,” he told Zheng with a voice that was full of conviction. “They won’t release it willingly. Nothing about what truly happened at that time can possibly be used to the advantage of any of the families with seats in the upper chamber. It condemns them all.”
“I don’t know what Merak offered in order to enlist your help,” Cozeremi said. “But, if he promised you a look into the archives, he couldn’t deliver on that, even if he wanted to. The rest of the upper chamber would never allow it. I expect them to become indignant with Non once they find out what he has done.”
“What do you mean, Gus,’ Zheng asked. Merak Non hadn’t promised Zheng access to the archives, but he didn’t want to betray that fact to Cozeremi. “Why would Merak Non not be able to give me access to the archives if he were Prime Minister? Why would the others in the upper chamber want to stop him? And, why would they object to publication of the story of Zhereveldonne?”
Cozeremi once again closed and stiffened his posture. He offered only ponderings, not a direct answer.
“Try as I might, I can’t think of what possible advantage it would be to Non to give you access to the government archives,” he mused. “If you were to stumble upon anything that contradicts what he gave you from his family archive, it would damage him beyond imagination. It would be a fantastic coincidence if you found anything like that, however. You don’t really know what it is you are looking for…”
Zheng again reacted angrily to Cozeremi’s attempt to deflect the conversation and refusal to give a simple answer to a direct question.
“I have no desire enter into an agreement with you on anything, Gus,” Zheng said. “If you have something to offer, it will have to stand on its own merits.”
He fought the urge to curse. He was having problems hiding his frustration and annoyance with Ekkidan customs.
“Dealing everyday with people that worked as hard as Ekkidans do to get as much out of each other as possible, while offering in return as little as they can get away with, would be a drain on anyone’s patience,” Zheng thought to himself. “Perhaps that’s why the Ekkidans have a finely tuned sense of the sarcastic. It must be some sort of defense mechanism. Otherwise they’d all go insane. Who says they haven’t? ”
“I seek nothing from you, Herb,” Cozeremi responded. “Because I have nothing of concrete value to offer you in return,”
He sighed as he kept looking out the car window. “I do want to give you some advice, though,” he said.
“Oh,” Zheng asked. “What is that?”
“Drop this right away and distance yourself from it, or plan on it becoming more of an obsession for you than it already is,” Cozeremi answered. “There is much more to this than just a few politicians wanting to deflect blame away from their malfeasance. What happened to Chamberlain and his followers is simply a sidebar to a much larger story. It has to do with the whole of human history, not just the hundred or so years you want to shed light on.”
Cozeremi loosened his posture once more and turned to face Zheng. He closed his eyes and grimaced as if he suddenly realized he had shared more than he wanted and couldn’t take anything back. “I must pursue this to right a wrong that was perpetrated against my family name,” he said. “You however, only have a passing interest in this. You are only curious to find out about what happened to Chamberlain, and that has no real bearing on you or your future.”
“Oh, I believe it does, Gus,” Zheng fired back. “Fighting against government policies that distort the truth has a great bearing on how I will be able to live my life. If I can’t trust my government to tell me the whole truth and allow me to deal with it in my own way, I don’t grow as a human being. I become a sheep and graze where they tell me to graze and water where they tell me to water.”
“But how does publishing what is in Non’s history bring about that which you seek,” Cozeremi asked. “The Central Government had nothing to do with Chamberlain or those who mutinied. That happened before there was a Central Government, or even a League of Aligned Planets. How does revealing this alleged conspiracy to the general public bring about the changes you are looking for? You won’t have exposed the fundamental truths and this government will retain its power and continue to do as it pleases.”
“Do you think they really care about a historical incident that has no real bearing on the present,” Cozeremi asked. “Is anyone either worse or better off for knowing the truth about Chamberlain?”
A puzzled smile came to Cozeremi’s face that soon turned to a wistful glower. “You have been made a pawn in some sort of twisted game for the last twenty years,” he told Zheng. “It has been a way to keep you from stumbling onto a much larger conspiracy.”
Cozeremi looked once more at Zheng’s briefcase. “Non did you no favors, Herbert,” he said. “He has set you adrift in a leaky lifeboat. The information he gave you is full of holes and inconsistencies. A careful examination will only raise more questions for you. The answers to those new questions will shake the foundation of your limited knowledge of the true history of Earth, Ekkida and Terra Nova to its core.”
Cozeremi reached over and placed a seemingly empathetic hand on Zheng’s shoulder. “You are welcome not to believe me at this point,” he said. “But, I am just as desperate as you are for the truth about Chamberlain’s Folly to be brought out into the open. In fact, I am even more desperate. But, the Bureau has a responsibility to League citizens not to expose that which they could not accept. Even so, for all these years, it has been me, under the direction of others in the Central Government who has allowed you to publish you
r findings as it suited their purposes.”
“Thank you for giving me permission to doubt your veracity, Gus,” Zheng said coldly as he glanced down at Cozeremi’s hand. “From my point of view you’ve fought me every step of the way on this.”
Cozeremi saw that his gesture of sympathy and support was not being welcomed and withdrew his hand from Zheng’s shoulder. “I am here now because Non, out of his own selfish interests, has interfered and given you a wild card they can’t afford for you to play,” Cozeremi said. “It would have ramifications far and above whether or not the Bureau has the responsibility to keep a lid on certain ‘inconvenient’ truths that are hidden for the greater good.”
“The greater good,” Zheng asked, almost laughing. “I thought that nothing took precedence over the greater good of the League.”
“I can’t say too much, Herb,” Cozeremi replied. “We are talking about something that even supersedes political stability of the League. We are talking about the continued wellbeing of humankind.”
“There is information held in secret by the Ekkidan upper caste that is better left undiscovered,” Cozeremi explained. “It tells the story of the origins of mankind and its release would do irreparable harm to relations among the human worlds, and tear apart the rest of the League.”
“Even if I did want to believe you are suddenly sympathetic to my cause after all this time, why should I,” Zheng asked. “I only just recently uncovered anything at all about Zhereveldonne and you had every opportunity to come clean to me. Of course, now that I have the truth…”
“Which is what, Herbert,” Cozeremi inquired angrily. “I can only guess what you have been told but, I swear you only have a small part of the story. Until you have the whole story, you won’t understand that Chamberlain was not the only victim of the evil you believe befell him. In fact, you can’t even begin to imagine the true character of that evil or how pervasive it is.”
Zheng gave Cozeremi a look that was cold and dismissive.
“I assume you came to Ekkida to talk with Non because you’ve been told I have a personal interest in the Ekkidan elections,” Cozeremi asked.
“In a manner of speaking,” Zheng replied.
“And you’ve been given a reasonable explanation of why the elections might be of interest to me,” Cozeremi inquired.
Zheng paused before answering. He looked Cozeremi straight in the eye.
For reasons he couldn’t explain, the contempt he wanted to feel for the man was not there when he summed up his accusation.
“I believe,” Zheng said, starting firmly, but losing some of his conviction toward the end. “You have a personal score to settle. You want to see Non and his adherents in the upper house lose power as revenge for what you perceive as a wrong perpetrated against your family.”
“Don’t forget the intimations there are others in the Central Government who would have a lot to gain if Non’s opposition came to power,” Cozeremi added with a chuckle. “They do have an interest, but the consequences of either outcome have been greatly exaggerated. We are only talking about one planet.”
“So you don’t deny you have a personal interest in seeing Non defeated,” Zheng asked. “Have you been lending support to his opposition?”
Zheng was trying to maintain the feeling he had the higher moral ground, but the fact that Cozeremi wasn’t dodging the questions gave him a feeling that his stance may be eroding.
“I do admit I have a bone of contention to pick with the Nons, and the whole upper chamber,” Cozeremi said. “I don’t deny it at all. But, that still doesn’t mean my involvement in the elections is out of retribution.”
“Non’s opponent, Barad Jaro, agrees with me it is time that my family name was cleared,” he added. “But, she has no personal interest in seeing my family regain its seat in the upper chamber and hasn’t offered to help me pursue that option. Perhaps you should speak with her before you make up your mind about that which you believe is true.”
Cozeremi’s manner was confident and straightforward. Zheng was unprepared for what the man admitted next.
“I do not deny that Zhereveldonne Cozeremi was feeding technological and strategic information to mutineers on Chamberlain’s crew,” Cozeremi said. “And, I cannot deny that Ekkidan agents were in negotiations with the consolidated planetary government, as well as the various regional governments on the Earth at that time, and during the twenty or so years previous to Chamberlain’s departure. Scientific knowledge, advanced technology and military intelligence was transferred to assist in what was intended to be the forced relocation of half of Earth’s population to Terra Nova.”
Zheng still sat, staring at Cozeremi coldly and steadfastly.
Cozeremi looked back at him without flinching.
“You act as if this information may not be news to you, Herb” Cozeremi said. “But have you been told Zhereveldonne was acting with the full knowledge and authorization of the whole House of Peers?”
“No,” Zheng answered. “Can you prove there were others involved?” “Because what I have in here looks damaging to your cause and it leaves nothing to the imagination,” he said as he patted his briefcase. “There is nothing in here that even remotely implicates anyone else but Zhereveldonne. It proves what I set out to prove. There was, and still is, a conspiracy against Chamberlain, and it gives me a fairly believable explanation as to why.”
“Then Non didn’t promise you access to the Ekkidan archives after all,” Cozeremi asked.
“I can’t talk about any of the details of our agreement,” Zheng answered. “But I don’t believe I need to get into the archives to put this to rest. I think I have all I need here.”
“But you don’t have the whole truth, Herbert,” Cozeremi replied. “You certainly don’t have enough to expose those who truly bear the responsibility for Chamberlain’s Folly.”
“I have enough of it to satisfy me,” Zheng shot back.
“Are you telling me, after all your years of claiming to be a champion for full and open disclosure of any and all government knowledge of historical events, you are willing to settle for only a small portion of the true history of Ekkida, Earth and Terra Nova,” Cozeremi asked. He fell into a fit of laughter. “My heavens, Herbert,” he choked out between belly laughs. “I’ve given you far more credit than you deserve. I’ve never heard anything more hypocritical.”
Zheng’s face reddened. “Who are you to judge my motives, Gus,” Zheng raged. “You just told me yourself you are only interested in revealing information that would benefit your cause. That sounds like ‘the pot calling the kettle black’ to me.”
“What other information do you have to add to what Non gave me,” Zheng asked. “And, how can you prove you are telling me the truth?”
Chapter 41
Aro Non answered his untraceable locator.
All locators on the League tele-link and data network were supposed to be secure and private, but everyone knew better. The aro could ill-afford to have anyone listen in on many of his conversations, so the price he paid for a locator that was ‘off the grid’ was part of the cost of doing business, as far as he was concerned.
The voice on the other end of the tele-link was shaky, but recognizable.
“Hello Barad. It’s nice to hear from you,” Aro Non said as cheerfully as he could manage. He was not happy that Jaro was calling him at this particular moment. “What can I do for you?”
“Did you give Zheng the information,” Jaro asked.
“Of course, Barad,” the aro replied. “I told you there would be no convincing necessary. Zheng was happy to get the chance to look at anything that would prove his theories.”
“But do you think he is smart enough to find what we hid for him and interpret it correctly,” Jaro inquired. “If he were to ever publish some of that material without the proper scrutiny and background research…”
“He would sound like a lunatic,” Aro Non assured her.
“But, what if he give
s in to the lure of the sensational,” she asked.
“Zheng is no fool,” the aro told her. “Just look at what he has done with the information he’s been given in the past. He is cautious. We should trust him to know what to do when the time comes.”
“Please allow me to worry, Merak,” Jaro replied. “I understand it is not productive, but I find your attitude about this to be too cavalier. What we are trying to do here could backfire on the both of us. And getting an off-worlder involved in Ekkidan political affairs puts us in even more danger. The Consortium’s influence on the Central Government grows with every election. Before long, they will be the Central Government.”
“That is why this gambit is so important, Barad,” Aro Non explained. “The humans from Earth and Terra Nova have no idea about their origins. If we allow them to remain uninformed about what the Consortium truly is and what it truly wants, they will keep blindly accepting its malignant growth all over the insides of the Central Government.”
“But we can’t even prove the Consortium is real, Merak,” Jaro lamented. “It’s like a dragon or gryphon; a beast that only appears in legend and myth. It is entertaining to hear fantastic stories about how evil and pervasive the Consortium is, but in the end, nobody truly believes it exists anywhere but in the imagination of a few eccentric Ekkidans.”
A tone from the public tele-link locator that sat on the aro’s desk alerted him to another incoming call. It was his ori, Maximilian Kestar.
“Is Zheng on the shuttle already, Kestar,” Aro Non asked. “I didn’t expect you to be calling me for at least an hour.”
“I’m sorry, Aro,” Kestar answered. His voice was shaky and full of concern as it boomed from the aro’s public locator.
“Sorry about what, Kestar,” the aro asked. He fought the urge to panic. It wasn’t like Kestar to be shaken by anything. “What has happened?”
Chamberlain's Folly (The Terra Nova Chronicles) Page 39