The V'Dan (18 page)

(
I see the merit in it, yes,
) Jackie agreed. (
Our booster shots have kept us ahead of histaminic reactions to the pollen in the air here in quarantine, but that’s in a relatively sterile environment. We get some exposure through the life-support bays where food is grown and carbon dioxide recycled into oxygen
through the plants. But on your homeworld, where there are no artificial controls throttling down the pollen counts . . . it would be a medical nightmare.
)

(
That, and I
am
the authority on
jungen
,
) To-mi agreed. (
On the bright side, most allergic reactions will be quelled to a very bearable, even ignorable level, if not outright eradicated. The common cold will rarely induce runny noses or sneezing fits—at the cost of increased fatigue and fever risks,
) she allowed. (
But that’s endurable. And both worlds will open up a host of new trade venues for spices, herbs, vegetables, meats, all manner of new foods, as well as plant-based objects. And you’ll find some M-class worlds where the local agriculture will flourish under a combination of V’Dan and Terran sources and efforts. Eventually.
)

Jackie wasn’t completely convinced. (
You say you’re the Immortal. But how—
)

(
—Can I prove it?
) To-mi finished for her. (
I am not going to kill myself to prove it. Nor can I tell you all that much about the future—no, I cannot, for two important reasons.
)

(
Oh, really?
) Li’eth challenged her, lifting a brow.

(
Yes, really. The first is obvious. I really shouldn’t interfere too much. This is
your
timeline.
Your
galaxy-shaking First Contact and all its associated events. Besides, you’re both grown-ups,
) the Immortal added. (
You’re smart enough to make good decisions. I’ll only step in if things start to get out of hand.
)

(
And the second reason?
) Jackie asked. (
Or was that it?
)

(
The second reason is that I am carrying around over fourteen thousand years of memories in my head. I was taught a lot of Terran and V’Dan history—with what I thought at the time was a rather odd emphasis on certain events,
) she added in an aside. (
The people who helped raise me are, or rather, will be followers of the Prophet of a Thousand Years. I didn’t know what I was when they started educating me. But they could only do so from
known
historical records. A lot of this stuff is unknown, even by me, because history often gets reduced to what the Terrans call
sound-bites
, little snippets of information only so large, and no more.

(
Some of this, I know exactly what will happen. Some of it, I have only a thin veil of information. Some of it, I know
nothing about. I’m sorry if that disappoints you, children, but that is the way things are.
)

(
. . . I don’t know how anyone could keep fourteen centuries’ worth of memories straight, let alone fourteen thousand,
) Jackie mused in the quiet that fell between them.

(
It isn’t easy. There’s a special way I can kill and revive myself that brings all the memories flooding back, but . . . it takes a long time to sort through all those memories, so I try to do it only once every fifty or so years,
) To-mi confessed. (
At this point, it takes me almost two weeks to sort through everything, and add to my records. Eventually, I hope to share everything I know . . . but it’ll be after my original life span ends. I don’t know what will happen to my body when “I” am born in the future. The closer I get to that era, the more nervous I get. Two objects cannot occupy the same point in space at the same moment in time. I don’t know if one sentient being can occupy the same span in the timestreams, even if I take pains never to encounter myself.
)

(
I hope you’ll forgive me if I don’t feel too much sympathy for that problem,
) Li’eth told her. (
I’m still trying to accept the idea that I am holding hands with the Immortal High One, First Empress of V’Dan.
)

(
It’s about as likely as your holding hands with your Gestalt mate, so try not to let it slow you down,
) To-mi told him tartly. (
And yes, I did know about that in advance.
)

(
Tell me something. If you are the Immortal, why reveal it to us? Li’eth said that when his ancestor won, you agreed to step down from V’Dan politics,
) Jackie asked next. (
Why reveal it to a member of the Imperial Family?
)

(
Because you aren’t the sort of woman to let something like this go. I realized I had forgotten to disguise my training from you when you reminded me of your abilities—again, millennia’s worth of forgetfulness, here,
) To-mi said, sighing. (
And when I did remember, I could tell that you saw through my attempts. Which meant once you compared it to the expelled shit they call training in this era, you’d question me. I waited until you brought it up, however, to see if you even would, and in particular,
how
you might bring it up.

(
This version is reasonably discreet . . . and I do admit it will
allow me to speak Terranglo right away. As long as you don’t tell everyone who and what I am, I’ll be fine,
) she concluded.

(
Something is bothering me,
) Li’eth stated. (
Your mental voice . . . your tone, the words you pick . . . they’re different from when you speak aloud.
)

(
Of course they are. When I speak aloud, I am playing the role of Dr. To-mi Kuna’mi. And when I speak telepathically, I am playing another role. The weight of my true thoughts would unnerve both of you.
)

(
I am not sure I completely believe her,
) Li’eth sent to Jackie as privately as he could. It didn’t seem to help.

(
If I were you, Highness, I wouldn’t believe me, either. If you want proof, I’m afraid you will have to wait until we are
not
being watched by security equipment,
) To-mi pointed out. (
Your physical reactions would be at odds with what you’d normally display during a language transfer.
)

(
How strong a telepath are you?
) Jackie asked.

(
I haven’t been tested in ages, young lady. Eons, technically. I’ve spent the last couple hundred years avoiding KI machines and painstakingly learning how not to set them off by sheer proximity for those times when I do have to use my gifts.
) To-mi paused, then offered, (
I could teach you the trick of it, if you like.
)

(
That would be unethical,
) Jackie declined. She didn’t even have to think about it. (
And I would rather you didn’t teach it to anyone else . . . though for security’s sake, you should tell me what its weaknesses are.
)

(
It’s just a particular sort of mental shield, a way of concentrating that cages kinetic-inergy waves and reflects them back toward the center. It’s not easy to maintain for great lengths of time, and the smaller the shield, the shorter the duration because of that reflected pressure, but it has gotten me in and out of Psi League training facilities,
) To-mi said.

(
That begs the question of why, if you have such exacting, Terran-style training,
) Li’eth asked, (
haven’t you taught it to
my
people?
)

(Your ancestor.) That rather flat, mental assertion came with a distinct overtone of dislike, disappointment, and distaste. (
The stubborn, goat-brained, anti-anything-Immortal did his best to try to wipe out the Sh’nai faith,
starting
with my
very-well-trained priesthood. His own psis weren’t nearly as well trained. It was all I could do to preserve the majority of the history books, the rituals. By the time I realized he was specifically targeting the gifted and destroying their training scrolls first and foremost, it was too late.

(
All I could do was try to save the core of the religion, knowing that those prophecies would need to be remembered for this very moment. So to speak—don’t think at me in that tone of subvoice, young man,
) she added to Li’eth. (
No matter what legends may have sprung up around me, I am still just one person. I am unable to stop thousands of angry, bitter, stubbornly prejudiced warriors on a self-righteous rampage. I had given him my word I would not interfere in his choice of government . . . though I did step in a few times to politely remind him that if he wanted to
retain
his power over my people, he would have to bend in a few areas or risk a full revolt.

(
Since he was determined to separate government from religion, I was free to salvage the religion as best I could . . . but again, just one person. You’re lucky you even have as much as you do, in regards to Sh’nai beliefs and books,
) To-mi concluded.

Jackie wasn’t so sure about that. She attempted a private sending of her own, much more skilled than Li’eth but aimed at the self-proclaimed Immortal. (
You could have taught them in person, as part of their strictly religious rites. You’re clearly quite accomplished. So why didn’t you?
)

(
Because of you. I knew from my history lessons that the Terrans would bring in their highly skilled psychic discipline, and that such things would help turn the tide of this particular war,
) To-mi answered.

Jackie knew both sendings were private because Li’eth asked over the top of their thoughts, (
I’m still trying to figure out how you, a renowned Imperial expert, who doesn’t have a birth record, managed to escape being caught up in the lie of your current fabricated identity. How did you pull that off?
)

(
Easily. The Valley of the Artisans was created not only as a refuge for the arts, sciences, and literacy needs of free-minded people, saving them from the brutal savagery of one of your other, slightly more recent
ancestors
,
) she told him, (
but also as a refuge for me to visit and integrate myself into
the world through their records system. They’re pledged to provide me with an identity every time I need one. And no, they don’t give identities to criminals,
) To-mi stated firmly, no doubt reading Li’eth’s underthoughts on that topic. (
No, you are not going to investigate Dr. Kuna’mi’s background, either.
)

(
And why not?
) he challenged her.

(
That could lead to my being exposed, and
that
would be detrimental to the Empire. Think it through. If the Immortal is proved to exist, then it will cause huge religious upheavals at a time when the Empire needs to remain united and thus strong. I am willing to prove in private that I am who I say I am, at a time and place when we are
not
under surveillance, but you’re just going to have to wait. Exercise both discretion and patience, Prince. This meeting doesn’t have to become a part of history. It isn’t important enough.
)

Jackie was not completely convinced. There was more to To-mi’s offer than just proving her words were true. (
You want to influence this meeting between the Terrans and the V’Dan. Not just smooth over the whole histamine problem. You want access to me, because I’m the Ambassador . . . and access to him, because he’s Imperial Family. All of it behind the scenes.
)

That earned her a slight smile, one felt more mentally than seen physically. (
History has judged you well. Seemingly sweet, seemingly innocent . . . but not naïve,
) To-mi replied. (
I’m looking forward to watching it unfold firsthand, so to speak. As for your accusation . . . it is true insofar as I wish to
avoid
mucking up time. But I only know the grand-picture details, and I cannot interfere too much.
)

(
Time travel shouldn’t exist, period, because of predestination paradox,
) Jackie pointed out. That earned her a mental snort. As their conversation went on, the awareness of the room around them was starting to fade, turning into a table in the vast, quiet warehouse where she liked to cleanse and center her mind. The physical woman, To-mi, didn’t move, but the one inside their joint vision rolled her eyes.

(
If you go back in time to slaughter your own grandfather, there is no paradox; you just end up having your motivation shifted to a different reason for killing that particular person because someone else becomes your grandfather at that point. Your actions do not destroy your own existence. They
can, however . . . destroy others.
) There was a stark sobriety to her gaze in the aetherspace where their inner selves sat. A moment later, and the blue-eyed, Asiatic-looking woman blinked, banishing it. Her neutrally polite look returned in its place.

Either this woman was the universe’s greatest actress, or she’d had a very long time to practice such things. Jackie was beginning to believe it just might be the latter. Every one of To-mi’s thoughts was genuine, but organized, with no stray subthoughts roaming around. Very well shielded, even internally.

(
Well, then. What shall we talk about for the next two hours or so?
) Jackie asked. (
If you cannot tell us much about the future, and not much about yourself . . .
)

(
Actually, I was hoping to catch up on the happenings back on Earth in the last couple of decades. I never got to find out what happened in the entertainment series
Alexander the Great
. They deviated a few times from the original stories, but they were getting most of the historical daily-life details fairly accurate.
)

(
I suppose this is where you tell us you lived through that era?
) Jackie asked, skeptically.

To-mi grinned at her. (
I was on Earth, yes, but I was in China, actually. With this face, I could go almost anywhere in the temperate zones. By the time I heard about Alexander’s conquests reaching India, I was thousands of kilometers away. And by the time I got to Babylon, he was dead and his putative heirs were squabbling over their inheritance rights. But the daily life, they got mostly right.
)