The Enemy Papers Read online

  the enemy papers

  barry b. longyear

  editor

  stewart wieck

  copyeditor

  anna branscome

  design and layout

  kathleen ryan

  art direction

  richard thomas

  cover illustration

  matt manley

  White Wolf Publishing

  735 Park North Boulevard, Suite 128

  Clarkston, GA 30021

  www.white-wolf.com

  Copyright © 1998 by Barry B. Longyear

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or parts thereof, in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

  The characters and events described in this book are fictional. Any resemblance between the characters and any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  The mention of or reference to any companies or products in these pages is not a challenge to the trademarks or copyrights concerned.

  The original version of "Enemy Mine" was first published in the Fall 1979 issue of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, © 1979, Curtis Publications, Inc., an expanded version appeared in rhe collection Manifest Destiny, © 1980, Barry B. Longyear. The Tomorrow Testament, © 1983, Barry B. Longyear. The considerably expanded version of "Enemy Mine" appearing in The Enemy Papers, as well as The Talman, "Run Drac Run," "On Alien Languages," "Drac For Travelers," and the complete novel The Last Enemy, © 1998, Barry B. Longyear. The Enemy Papers, © 1998, Barry B. Longyear.

  White Wolf is committed to reducing waste in publishing. For this reason, we do not permit our covers to be "stripped" for returns, but instead require that the whole book be returned, allowing us to resell it.

  Borealis is an imprint of White Wolf Publishing.

  First Publishing February 1998

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  CONTENTS

  Introduction

  The Talman

  Containing The Myth of Aakva, The Story of Uhe, much of The Story of Shizumaat, and fragments from other books. Eleven thousand years of wisdom in convenient, magazine-length stories.

  Enemy Mine, The Author's Cut

  With never-before-revealed glimpses of Drac life and the life and thoughts of Willis E. Davidge. When told "I really loved the movie Enemy Mine," this is the version the author will force you to read on the spot, most likely at gunpoint.

  The Tomorrow Testament

  Seeing is not necessarily believing, and some rules are meant to be broken.

  The Last Enemy

  Where we discover that the most severe threat to life and peace in the universe is the monstrous illusion of the tribe.

  On Alien Languages

  Why starting too soon in the writing process, and trying to keep it all in your head, can make you poorzhab!

  Run Drac Run

  The full, uncut, never-before-told tale of the writings of "Enemy Mine," The Tomorrow Testament, and The Last Enemy, including the making of the motion picture Enemy Mine, and how the author recovered from it all by smacking his head repeatedly on his Wang.

  Drac for Travelers

  For the very first time, the collected vocabulary from "Enemy Mine," The Tomorrow Testament and The Last Enemy. Curse out your friends in secret, call the President names without getting arrested, offend visiting aliens.

  INTRODUCTION

  Beginning with "Enemy Mine" and The Tomorrow Testament, and continuing with The Last Enemy the Enemy series spans almost the entirety of my writing career to date. There have been a lot of changes in me and in publishing since "Enemy" first appeared in 1979, but there is a strange continuity in the universe that saw three hundred worlds at war as Dracs and humans worked out the steps of their deadly dance.

  I am very excited at the prospect of presenting the entire series, this time with "Enemy Mine" greatly expanded, in addition to the portions of the Drac bible, The Talman, that I was able to retrieve with my far-future fax machine.

  Incidentally, the stories of The Talman have never before been published. It is a bible by aliens, set on an alien planet, about aliens and for alien readers. For the first time for readers, there is a unique choice. If you read the selections from The Talman first, you will get to read "Enemy Mine" from the perspective of a Drac. If you read "Enemy" first, you can read it from the perspective of a human.

  I have included the Drac vocabulary in this volume, in addition to two very different essays. "On Alien Languages" tells some of the funny business of making up alien languages, and "Run Drac Run" tells about the origins and continuation of the Enemy series.

  Three persons who deserve historical mention and grateful thanks for their suggestions and support concerning the Enemy series are George Scithers, Isaac Asimov, and Victoria Shochet. The one who deserves the most thanks for her suggestions, support, encouragement, no-nonsense discouragement when needed, not to mention putting up with the author, is Regina B. Longyear, wife, advisor, critic, and defender of the taxpayer.

  The Talman was outlined and partially written as background material for the Enemy series. Although it was never intended for publication, the idea of reading an alien bible interested a number of readers, which is why I include it here, This is what I have of the work, and if enough hue and cry is raised, I might be coaxed into writing the remainder.

  "The Story of Uhe" was first written, in Earth terms, about eleven thousand years ago. The origin of "The Myth of Aakva," passed down through Sindie's oral tradition, predates it by several thousand years.

  KODA SINDA

  The Myth of Aakva

  Sindie was the world.

  And the world

  Was said to be made by Aakva,

  The God of the Day Light.

  Aakva was said to make on the world

  Special creatures of yellow skin

  And hands and feet each of three fingers.

  And it was said to make the creatures of one kind,

  That each could bear its young,

  Or the young of another.

  And it was said to make the creatures

  Make thought and give voice

  That the creatures could worship

  The Parent of All.

  And it was said that Aakva

  Gave its children signs and visions

  That they could study,

  And from them learn and obey the wishes of Aakva.

  For this service,

  The God of the Day Light

  Was said to set upon the world

  The plants and animals to feed and protect its children.

  Aakva was said to set in the night sky

  A star for each of its children.

  Each child's star would guide its footsteps

  Along the paths of right during life,

  And to Aakva's side after life.

  Aakva called its children the Sindie,

  After the world it had made.

  And the Sindie were made to walk upright

  As did no other creature.

  This was held to be a proof

  That the Sindie were the children

  Of the God of the Day Light.

  The visions and signs of Aakva

  Were complex and mysterious.

  And it was said that Aakva charged the Sindie

  To appoint servants

  Who would make of their lives

  The study of Aakva's messages.

  The Sindie chose from among their numbers

  The ones who would study

  The messages of Aakva.

  The servants of Aakva

  Chose from among their number

  A chief who would be responsible

  For speaking to the Sindie

  For th
e God of the Day Light.

  The first chief was Rhada.

  And Rhada had the servants

  Go among the Sindie and learn

  All of the signs and visions

  That were known.

  The servants gathered this knowledge

  And gave it to Rhada.

  For twelve days and twelve nights,

  The chief of the servants

  Studied the signs and visions,

  And sorted the false from the true,

  And the tribal lays

  From the true Laws of Aakva.

  On the thirteenth day,

  Rhada spoke to the servants

  Of what it had learned.

  And Rhada said:

  "It is truth

  That Aakva is the God of the Day Light

  And we are its children;

  "It is truth

  That the world and everything upon it

  Is our gift from Aakva;

  "It is Law

  That violating the wishes of Aakva is tabu;

  "It is Law

  That the servants of Aakva

  Will speak the wishes of Aakva;

  "It is Law

  That one who disputes a true vision from Aakva

  Will suffer ordeal;

  "It is Law

  That one who makes false claim to a vision

  Will suffer ordeal;

  "It is Law

  That at least one child out of three

  Be made by joining

  The fluid of one with the fluid of another;

  "It is Law

  That the one who bears the child

  Is the parent of the child;

  "It is Law

  That the parent shall keep and provide

  For the child

  So long as the child is in need;

  "It is Law

  That the child shall keep and provide

  For the parent

  So long as the parent is in need;

  "It is Law

  That the dead are to be burned;

  "It is Law

  That murder is forbidden;

  "It is Law

  That the murderer is to be burned

  With the murdered;

  "It is Law

  That theft from another

  Or from the tribe is forbidden;

  "It is Law

  That the thief shall pay to its victim

  In kind for its theft;

  "It is Law

  That to make war is to murder and steal."

  And Rhada ordered the servants

  To go among the Sindie

  And teach the Laws.

  It was promised by Rhada,

  In the name of Aakva,

  That as long as the Sindie listened

  To Aakva's servants

  And followed the laws

  The God of the Day Light made,

  There would be peace and plenty.

  The Sindie listened to the servants and

  Learned and followed the Laws.

  They made sacrifice to Aakva through its servants,

  And the Sindie prospered and multiplied.

  Generations grew and died,

  And when Summat was the chief of the servants,

  One day a hunter named Daultha

  Doubted the laws and the servants of Aakva.

  Even as Daultha doubted,

  It was said that the God of the Day Light

  Watched its servants to see what they would do.

  Summat ordered the servants

  To bring the light to Daultha's eyes,

  And the servants of Aakva scolded Daultha,

  But Daultha only laughed at their anger.

  Daultha was the chief of the hunt

  And much admired by the tribe.

  The servants of Aakva feared ordeal,

  And did not challenge Daultha.

  Other Sindie, seeing this,

  Joined Daultha in laughing

  At the laws, the servants, and

  The God of the Day Light.

  The servants of Aakva answered only

  With silence.

  The chief of the servants

  Cast its gaze upon the morning sky,

  And Summat said:

  "Aakva, God of the Day Light,

  Daultha poisons the young of the Sindie against you.

  Your servants are weak and faithless.

  I am the chief of your servants,

  The teacher of these cowards,

  And the blame is mine."

  Summat raised its stone knife

  Toward the face of Aakva.

  "With this knife, God of the Day Light,

  I leave to your might and anger

  What your servants would not do."

  Summat then plunged the knife

  Through its womb and belly

  Until the heart was reached.

  The servants of Aakva,

  Seeing Summat's still form,

  Were shamed, and for shame

  Spilled their own blood upon the ground.

  The God of the Day Light

  Looked upon the bodies of its servants,

  and sought out the chief of the hunt.

  And to Daultha, Aakva said:

  "Hunter, you have laughed at my Laws.

  See you then the world without them."

  And the God of the Day Light

  Made the lands to the west foul and poisonous,

  And it made the mountains to the east erupt and melt.

  In the space between, Aakva set the Sindie,

  One tribe upon another,

  And war covered the world.

  Daultha saw the world on fire

  And heard the cries.

  And the hunter begged Aakva

  To return the Laws to the Sindie.

  Aakva appeared that night

  In a vision to Daultha.

  And Aakva said:

  "You have angered me, Daultha.

  All I did

  I did for you and your kind.

  And you scorned me,

  Disobeyed my laws,

  And laughed at my servants.

  You have their blood

  And the blood of my world

  On your hands."

  Daultha fell to the ground and begged

  The God of the Day Light

  To forgive the Sindie

  And end their punishment

  For Daultha's wrong.

  And Aakva said:

  "Daultha, I will have mercy on the Sindie;

  The wars will end.

  You have cost me, though,

  Summat, my chief servant.

  Daultha, you will take Summat's place

  And gather again my servants."

  Daultha begged that this should be.

  Then Aakva heaved and cut the world,

  Raised great mountains,

  Split the land with wide seas,

  Dividing the tribes of the Sindie.

  And Aakva gave the Laws to Daultha

  To bring to the Sindie.

  And Aakva said:

  "When all the Sindie once more

  Worship me and follow my Laws, Daultha,

  There again will be peace and plenty."

  Daultha gathered again the servants

  Of the God of the Day Light.

  They brought the Laws

  To all of the tribes of the Sindie.

  And the lesson of Daultha

  Was passed down through many ages,

  Bringing the Sindie peace and plenty.

  All praised the wisdom of Aakva.

  KODA OVIDA

  The Story of Uhe

  The peoples of the Sindie were divided by the Akkujah Mountains and the Great Cut into the four Great Tribes: the Mavedah, the Diruvedah, the Kuvedah, and the Irrvedah. And the four tribes obeyed the ancient Laws of Aakva.

  Bantumeh ruled the Mavedah, for Bantumeh ruled its clan, and the people of Bantumeh's clan were the best and wises
t of the Mavedah.

  The Mavedah ruled the Madah west of the Akkujah Mountains, north to the Ocean of Ice, south to the boiling waters of the Yellow Sea, and west to where Aakva slept in the muds and waters of the Land of Death. The tribe of Bantumeh lived not in any fixed place, but roamed the Madah following the game.

  The one called Mijii ruled the Diruvedah, and its tribe hunted for game in the lands of the Dirudah, east of the mountains, past the blue lakes, to the poison air of the Melting Mountains where Aakva began its day in fire. And the Dirudah extended from where the Great Cut split the land, south to the Yellow Sea.

  North of the Great Cut and the Dirudah was the Kudah, and the tribe of the Kuvedah was ruled by the twins, Hesheh and Vintah. Their rule extended north to the cold waters where the ice and darkness met. And there the Kuvedah fished and hunted for game.

  Tocchah ruled the Irrvedah and the Irrvedah ruled from the heights of the Akkujah Mountains and the depths of the Great Cut and all in between, south to the Yellow Sea. The Irrvedah ate little flesh, save that of the swimming creatures from the waters of the Great Cut. At the bottom of the Cut, and in the mountains, the Irrvedah made plants to grow at will, for it was these plants that fed the Irrvedah.

  All of the tribes of the Sindie lived according to the sacred tabus spoken generations before by the Doubter Daultha.

  For the Irrvedah, the flesh of creatures that stalked the dry land was tabu. For any tribe to cross the Great Cut or the mountains of Akkujah was tabu. For the Irrvedah to leave the cut or the mountains and enter either the Madah, Kudah, or Dirudah was tabu. For any tribe to place an obligation on another tribe either of service, sacrifice, or obligation was tabu.