Enemy Papers Read online

  She withdrew her hand and sucked on her right forefinger, tasting blood. Carefully reaching back, her fingers felt that the plastic work surface was nicked and scratched. She found the sharp edge of the nick that had scratched her finger, felt around it, and placed her hand upon the control to the link.

  She paused as an uneasy feeling swept across her mind. It was as though the last ingredient for a complicated recipe had been acquired-the final piece of an unassembled puzzle had appeared.

  What recipe? What puzzle?

  She pushed the feeling from her mind as she keyed the link. “Dracon Mission communications,” the link answered. “How may I serve you?”

  “I wish to speak with the USE Mission communications operator.”

  A pause. “And your name?”

  “Joanne Nicole. I belong to Ovjetah Tora Soam’s party.” As long as you’re going to drop a name-

  “USE operator,” answered a human voice.

  “I would like to speak with Colonel Richard Moore. Can you tell me if he is accepting calls?”

  “Wait one.”

  The click of a connection, a hum. then a voice. “Moore.”

  “Colonel, this is Joanne Nicole.”

  There was a brief, involuntary laugh. “What can I do for you, Major?”

  Major?

  “I see you’ve been doing a little research, Colonel.”

  “If the war should end, Major, there’ll be a wad of bad papers waiting for you. You can count on it. What can I do for you?”

  “Tora Soam has instructed me to inform you that there are two additional requirements before your boss and mine can meet to discuss reopening the negotiations.”

  “They are?”

  “First, information regarding Heliot Vanes death must be freely exchanged between Hajjis Da and the commander of USE orbiter security.”

  “That would be Major Haridashi. And the second requirement?”

  “Ambassador Rafiki’s recall order must be rescinded.”

  “Hmmm. I will convey your information to Mister Eklissia. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

  “Colonel, would it be possible for me to talk to Major Haridashi?”

  “The only authorized line open between the two missions at the present is ours. What did you want to ask him.”

  “After Heliot’s death, why was Kroag transferred planetside?”

  A pause. “I suppose I can answer that. We were advised, that keeping Kroag on the orbiter would only heighten the animosity of the Drac contingent. It was for the same reason that Ambassador Rafiki was recalled. We are trying to keep things as cool as possible up here.”

  Nicole sat back from the link. “Colonel, you said you were advised.”

  “Yes.”

  “By whom?” Nicole sucked the cut on her finger.

  “By indirect means, the advice came from the Ninth Quadrant observation team. The advice sounded good, so we took it.”

  The Cut! She withdrew the finger from her mouth and imagined the webs of talman paths leading to and from the cut-a net that…

  “Thank you, Colonel.” Nicole keyed off the communications link, sat still for a moment, then energized her terminal, programmed it for voice response, and listened to Mitzak’s orbiter information.

  The orbiter was a functional ore-receiving facility operated by a Timan crew. Neither Dracs nor humans from Amadeen had ever been there. The quarters for the negotiating teams had to be specially prepared-or had been prepared when the orbiter was originally constructed.

  Nicole raced through the missions of the Dracon Chamber, USE, Amadeen Front, Mavedah, and their respective security and support units, until she reached the listing for the Ninth Quadrant Federation Observation Team.

  Boatoam Ru Seagadu of planet Moag

  Cherrisin He Taam, representative of planet Aluram

  Darlass Ita, representative of planet Aus

  Hissied ‘do Timan, representative of planet Timan

  Jerriyat-a-do’Timan of planet Timan, assistant to Hissied ‘do

  She halted the recording. Timan. The ore receiving orbiter belonged to Timan Nisak. And the “specially prepared quarters” were old, used.

  -Mitzak in the Chirn Kovah on Draco.

  “This is strange.”

  “What’s strange, Mitzak?”

  The Ninth Quadrant study committee voted down the invitations-”

  “Just as you said they would.”

  “-but the vote was very close. Much closer than I expected. And Hissied ‘do Timan-delegate from Timan-was the only abstention.” Mitzak was silent for a long time.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  A pause, then the sounds of Mitzak rearranging himself in his chair. “I don’t understand the reason for this abstention.”

  “Who can figure a Timan, Mitzak? Most of them are so wrapped up in wheeling and dealing…”

  …They were one of three intelligent races that had evolved upon the planet Timan. They were called Timans because the other two races-although more numerous and physically more powerful-had been eliminated…

  …completely disproportionate to their numbers, the Timans were an economic and political power in the Ninth Quadrant Assembly…

  The Timans were completely non-violent; however, the Timans knew how to use rules…

  Rules.

  Nicole reached out her hand and felt the work surface around her terminal. It was nicked, scratched, old. Before the negotiations, neither humans nor Dracs had reason to be housed in the orbiter. Only the Timan crew had quarters there. But the compartment was constructed and appointed in the Drac manner. The compartment had been waiting for her for a long time.

  She looked up at the darkness surrounding her.

  Are we that predictable?

  She rubbed her eyes. The compartment had been waiting for a long time, but a Drac should be staying there, not a human. She smiled. And not a human who had been groomed to think like neither human nor Drac. It was a fine net of cause and effect; but Tora Soam had ripped it by bringing a human instead of a Drac.

  But there was another rip in the net. Somehow Heliot’s death was a mistake-perhaps an accident.

  What advantage does the Ninth Quadrant have in making a failure of the peace negotiations? War is similar to a contagious disease. And no one in the Ninth Quadrant wants to catch it. The entire purpose of the Ninth Quadrant, and of the United Quadrants, is peace.

  “But peace is a word, and never trust a word.” The Ninth Quadrant would like to have peace. But more important, the Ninth Quadrant would like to have the United States of Earth and the Dracon Chamber as members…

  But when it had come to a vote, the study committee had voted down the membership invitations. Hissied ‘do Timan had abstained. And now Hissied ‘do Timan was a member of the Ninth Quadrant observation team. And there was another Timan member: Jerriyat-a-do’Timan. Two out of five committee members…

  Nicole sat back as the dark outlines of an all-encircling talma formed in her mind.

  The size of it; its cruel sense of purpose; the meaninglessness of so much death and destruction; the horror—

  Nicole rejected the thought. It was too bizarre; the tortured, terror-driven shrieks from the mental snake pits of a paranoia ward-And from its perspective of almost ninety-five hundred years, the secret Talman Master, Ayden of the War of Ages, spoke to her mind:

  “If talma points toward an answer, the horror of which causes you to reject the answer, then blindness is both your tool and your goal. Greatness of any kind-be it theory, plan, or horror-is not comprehensible to the mind of limits. To understand all, one must be able to accept all.”

  Nicole touched the hilt of her Blade of Aydan and thought of the ancient Talman Master who had made war into science. She keyed the communications link and placed a call to Tora Soam. Aal Thaya, Tora Soam’s servant, answered. “The Ovjetah is in meditation, Joanne Nicole.”

  “Well, blast it out. Thaya. I think I have some of the answers the
Ovjetah has been looking for.”

  “Wait please.”

  The link hummed for a moment, then Tora Soam’s voice answered. “Joanne Nicole?”

  “Yes. Ovjetah. There are some arrangements you must make. First, is the Cueh still docked with the orbiter?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you must arrange for Ambassador Rafiki, Jetah Indeva, Tora Kia, Mitzak, and yourself to meet with me upon the Cueh.”

  “It would be easier to gather this assembly here in the orbiter-upon neutral ground.”

  “Ovjetah, there is no neutral ground.”

  “No neutral ground?”

  “None. And, Ovjetah, you must have the central commercial and historical computers in the Talman Kovah tied into the screen room. The human equivalent to this information must also be tied in.”

  “I am certain Rafiki will resist. However, I will see what I can arrange. Do you know the factors governing Heliot Vanes death?”

  “I have theories. Now they must be tested.”

  There was a pause. “I see… May the many mornings find you well, Joanne Nicole.”

  It knows. Tora Soam knows.

  “Ovjetah, that too is a theory to be tested.” She keyed off the communications link, reached out, and deenergized the terminal. She sat silent for a moment, thinking. Audio surveillance is undetectable. Therefore, anything said in the compartment, anything that went through the terminal or the communications link is known.

  But visual surveillance still requires a lens. The Drac Mission’s security sweep team would have detected the equipment for visual surveillance.

  Nicole stood up, moved to the nearest wall, and began feeling her way along its surface. Her hands touched the warmness of a lightbar, and she gasped and wrenched it from its receptacle. Gently placing the lightbar upon the floor, she moved on to the next.

  After she had removed all of the compartment’s lightbars; satisfying herself that the room was dark, she placed the sleeping platform between herself and the compartment’s door. She bunched up the covers on the platform and felt the form of herself that she had made.

  Crouching down behind the platform, she unsheathed her Blade of Aydan and tested its point and edges with her fingers.

  “Be prepared to accept all. But test the truth by forcing it to lie; test the lie by forcing it to be true.”

  The sounds of talking came from outside the compartment, then her communications link crackled to life. “Joanne Nicole, this is Ninth Officer Eaatna, your duty guard.”

  Nicole reached back and keyed the link. “What is it?”

  “I have been ordered to report to the commander of the watch. There are other guards in the corridor, your door is secured, and I should be back soon.”

  Nicole moistened her lips. “Very well.”

  As the guard’s footsteps moved away from the door, Nicole keyed off the link, squatted down behind her bed platform, and waited.

  Hearing, smell, touch, memory.

  Joanne Nicole tasted the degree of her powers as the hours passed in the dark compartment. If you can hear the fold of a single layer of cloth; if you can smell the difference between an empty room and one containing another being; if you have placed in your mind the position of everything with more accuracy than one who can see those things with light, who has the superior power in a dark room?

  There was a sound in the compartment, and Joanne Nicole knew the answer. Her ears flooded her mind with data as her right hand grasped the hilt of her blade. She heard a hand brush the wall and try twice to make the wall switch illuminate the compartment. Then cloth-clad footsteps walked the compartment’s deck.

  Cloth-clad footsteps. An atmospheric suit. There was no sound of the door opening!

  There was a hiss, a sizzle, the smell of ozone filling the compartment, a wash of heat speeding over her head. The footsteps moved toward the sleeping platform as the smells of burned cloth filled the air.

  “Ehhh?”

  There were more sounds of hands moving through the scorched and ashed bedclothes.

  Nicole moved silently to her left, around the bed platform, until she sensed the near presence of another being. She gently placed her left hand around the being’s suited right leg and, with her right hand, placed the point of her blade against the leg’s covering.

  “Put down your weapon, or I will open you to the atmosphere.”

  There was a frozen moment, then Nicole felt the heat of molten steel lace through her right shoulder. As her mind dimmed from the pain, she shoved the blade with her right hand into the creature’s leg.

  There was a scream, a blade of energy moving through her shoulder, a whiff of ammonia. then blackness.

  EIGHTEEN

  “What are the goals? What are the intended goals? Whose goals are served by the event? Whose goals are intended to be served by the event?

  “The more of the truths you acquire that you need to satisfy these questions, the closer you will be toward understanding the situations that arise between creatures. And understanding the event is but a particle away from controlling its nature and effects.”

  The Talman

  The Story of Ditaar. Koda Sinushada

  The upper right quadrant of her body was numb. Her mind was filled with the scarlet vision of blood as bright heat washed her face.

  Tora Soam spoke over her. “Natueh, the lights. The heat left her face “Tora Soam?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who was it? The one who tried to kill me?

  “Emmmm.” An uncomfortable silence. “We do not know. As soon as I understood what you were going to do. I had your duty guard removed and another squad of guards prepared to apprehend whoever tried to enter your quarters. They saw no one entering or leaving.”

  Nicole frowned. “It was wearing an atmospheric suit. I punctured it. Whoever it was should have been dead in my quarters.”

  “There was no one.”

  Nicole let her memories pick at the problem. “Entrance was not made through the corridor. There is at least one other entrance. The body must have been removed in the same manner.” She reached out a hand and grabbed at the air until she felt Tora Soam’s arm. “Ovjetah, when I punctured the suit, I smelled ammonia.”

  “Emmmm.” Tora Soam remained silent for a moment. “Nicole, only one of the members of the Ninth Quadrant observation team would use an atmosphere containing a significant amount of ammonia. Darlass Ita of the planet Aus.”

  Nicole shook her head. “No. That makes no sense. Timan Nisak designed and built the orbiter. It had to be a Timan.”

  “Joanne Nicole, everyone on the orbiter knows that you are sightless. The one who tried to kill you could have been either Timan, human, or Drac, wearing a suit, attempting to convince you that the person was from Aus. Perhaps your assailant did not intend to kill you. The purpose of the visit might have been to cast suspicion on the Timans.”

  “Or a Timan trying to make it look as though someone else was trying to frame the Timans.” Nicole shook her head. “Tora Soam, who else is in this compartment?”

  Another voice spoke. “I am Natueh Gi, Chirn Jetah of the ship Cueh.”

  She turned toward Tora Soam. “Where are Ambassador Rafiki and Jetah Indeva?”

  “At first they were both difficult about appearing here without assistants. However, both of them should be aboard by now with their guards.”

  Nicole nodded. “We must all meet in the screen room.” She turned her head toward Natueh Gi. “Can I get up?”

  “No. You should rest. Your body has suffered greatly.”

  She frowned at the Chirn Jetah, then felt with her left hand. Her right arm and shoulder were covered with a smooth plastic cast.

  “I think I have saved the limb.”

  Nicole let her head fall back to the bed. “Natueh Gi, I must be moved to the screen room.”

  “You should rest.”

  The Ovjetah grunted. “Move her. She knows what must be done.”

  She spoke as the bedt
able began moving. “Ovjetah?”

  “Yes, Joanne Nicole?”

  “Is the screen room tied into the Talman Kovah’s computers, and the USE’s commercial computers?”

  “The information from the Talman Kovah is available, but Ambassador Rafiki will not allow the connection to the USE central system.”

  Nicole nodded once and remained impassive as the bedtable moved down the corridor.

  Hurry. Natueh Gi. There is a nightmare to discuss.

  Her mind swam, and an image came to her of Storm Mountain and Ted Makai, months before the attack, in the officer’s club…

  “Talk to me about Amadeen, Ted.”

  “Are you one of those who are attracted by the grotesque?”

  “I want to understand.” Ted Makai moved in his chair, finished his drink, then ordered another. He remained silent.

  “Ted, Carver doesn’t talk about Amadeen. Neither do Speidel or Ghadi. No one who served there does.”

  “Joanne, have you ever had a deathly frightening dream?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have you ever tried to put such a dream into words to tell to another?”

  “Yes, I have.”

  “And has anyone who heard those words ever understood the terror of your dream?”

  Nightmares… l would wake in the dark, the end of a scream still on my lips; shaking, the perspiration soaking my hair and bedclothes. As a child. my mother would hug me and smile as I tried to tell her about my experience; years later. Mallik would half-listen to my hysterical tumble of words, then laugh…

  “No. They couldn’t understand… they were not there in the same dream.”

  Makai had nodded. “Now, buy me another drink…”

  The moving table turned a corner and Nicole sensed herself enter a larger compartment; the ship’s screen room. The table stopped, and the Chirn Jetah pressed a button, raising the upper end, allowing Nicole to face the others in the room.

  And now I have to tell them the nightmare that I saw.

  She released Tora Soam’s arm. “No one can be in here except you, Rafiki, Indeva, and myself.”

  Nicole heard the Chirn Jetah, Natueh Gi, leave the room. Then the Ovjetah spoke to Ambassador Rafiki and Jetah Indeva. “My distinguished guests, it is necessary that all of your guards wait outside,” Tora Soam changed the direction of its voice and addressed one of the several Dracs operating the screen room’s consoles. “My apologies, but you and the members of your watch must wait outside.”