Trial by Fire - eARC (49 page)

“Rock-sibling, I am flattered that you feel the need of my counsel, but your commander is—”

“Esteemed Darzhee Kut, hear my song. This is not a military situation. If the human speaks truth, it is a diplomatic matter of the utmost importance.”

“Tell me, quickly.”

“While we were isolated from the Hkh’Rkh, a human approached us. He is not an Indonesian. He claims he is known to you as the emissary named Caine Riordan. We reasoned that—”

Darzhee Kut stopped hearing. The portents of such an occurrence sent a snake-shudder through Darzhee Kut’s bowel. “Bring him. Immediately.”

The Arat Kur clattered out backwards. He returned with his partner, Caine Riordan walking between them.

“Speaker Riordan, I trust you are—” Darzhee Kut looked again. “
Are
you well?”

“I am in good health and unharmed. My return to this place has been, er, challenging.”

“Why did you not signal in advance? Why did you not return earlier?”

Caine smiled slowly. “Darzhee Kut, surely you have already guessed.”

Darzhee Kut bobbed. “You feared for your life if you did not come directly into Arat Kur custody. I understand. But I must ask that this time, regardless of the provocations you might encounter, that you give your word that you shall not attempt to flee—or mount attacks.” Darzhee Kut let his inner polyps twitch with amusement. “Not even against your own species.”

Caine obviously detected the humor. “That last may be the hardest of all promises to keep, Darzhee Kut. But provided I remain in the custody of the Arat Kur, I give you the parole you ask for, as is customary for an emissary.”

“And we receive you again, as an ambassador of your people. Although I fear the situation may have passed beyond the intercession of diplomats. Or common sense.”

“Perhaps, but one must still try.”

“We harmonize as one voice in this, Caine Riordan. I welcome you back, but you must also accept our close monitoring at all times. Many of our associates are profoundly suspicious of you.”

“That is an uncommonly tactful way of saying they wish to kill me.”

Darzhee Kut could not tell if the strange smile on the human’s revoltingly mobile face was one of mirth or rue. “We shall discuss your status among our allies later on. I regret that I am pressed for time. So I will ask you to accompany these two defense-technicians to suitable quarters.”

One of whom raised a claw. “Speaker Kut, if I may encumber you a moment longer. It is known that you have regular contact with First Delegate Hu’urs Khraam and I would plead that he hears the servants of the Wholenest in this one matter. Although the Hkh’Rkh are often too brutal and quick-tempered, I wish to ask Hu’urs Khraam to approve their requests for general reprisals against towns and neighborhoods that are known to harbor and support the insurgents.”

“Surely you cannot mean this.”

“Surely I do, and I must request it. Speaker Kut, we cannot separate civilians from combatants anymore. This leads to friction with our Hkh’Rkh allies. We are to work as their conduct officers, but as the guerilla activity grows and becomes more unpredictable and bold, we are constantly in contention with the Hkh’Rkh field commanders who wish to destroy sections of
kempangs
to which insurgents have fled. We are forced to argue with our allies more than we fight the humans, and most of us have come to harmonize with the Hkh’Rkh in this matter. We must make reprisals, if only to prevent the humans from using any refuge twice.”

Unshaded sun, has it come to this?
Darzhee Kut adopted as patient a tone as he could. “We are on the humans’ homeworld. If we start destroying their communities in the way you suggest, they will see this act as a prelude to genocide.”

“Speaker Kut, I only know this: in war, it is better that the enemy dies instead of your rock-siblings. Please, listen—and learn—from the songs of your grandmothers once again. We have no choice with the humans. We never did.”

Darzhee Kut started at the defense-tech’s unexpected slip, considering that he had not deactivated his translator. Kut looked at Caine, who looked more confused than elucidated. Hopefully, Riordan would not deduce the full significance of what he had just heard about the Wholenest’s prior knowledge of humans, but, either way, Darzhee Kut had to prevent any more unwitting disclosures. “Rock-sibling, I harmonize with your fear and frustration, but this is a tactical matter. I am a diplomat, a Speaker.”

“Yes, Speaker Kut, but all know that the sound-bristles of Hu’urs Khraam are attuned to your songs. I speak for many of us in this, and hope—”

“I will mention it to Hu’urs Khraam. He will decide if and how to proceed.” Darzhee Kut held up a claw to signal an end to any further entreaties, turned slightly toward Caine. “I regret that I may not accompany you, Caine Riordan, but I must meet with First Delegate Hu’urs Khraam. These two will escort you to quarters, provide you with opportunities to cleanse, clothe, and feed yourself. Then, when Hu’urs Khraam has no further need of me, I shall come and share roof with you. Is this acceptable?”

“It is an honor, Darzhee Kut.”

“The honor is ours, Caine Riordan. I wish you very well and shall attend you as soon as I may.” He turned to the two Arat Kur soldiers. “Apprise Thrice-Leader Oonvai Grek of this situation and make it clear to him that your deviation from protocols was warranted and blameless, and that he will be held personally responsible for the safety and proper treatment of Caine Riordan. Lastly, no humans or Hkh’Rkh are to have contact with this emissary. I speak for Hu’urs Khraam in this, and there are no exceptions.”

“And if the Hkh’Rkh violently object to these dicates, Speaker Kut?”

“Then you must violently insist that they be obeyed. You may use all methods at your disposal. You are dismissed.”

As they left through the rear door, Darzhee Kut heard a faint, even frail skittering at the high room’s other, larger entrance. He turned—and felt his polyps stiffen in surprise. “First Delegate Hu’urs Khraam! Apologies, I received no word that you were already waiting.”

“Harmonies, rock-sibling; I sent no word.”

“I have, this minute, a most interesting event to report.”

Hu’urs Khraam waved a relaxed claw, eased himself into one of the room’s six belly-couches. “I know of what you speak; this room has antennae which are extensions of my own.”

Shattered eggs! The old darkworm has fewer scruples than I thought…

Perhaps Hu’urs Khraam genuinely possessed his reputed power to read minds; perhaps he saw the stunned sag in Darzhee Kut’s manipulator polyps; perhaps he simply anticipated the younger Arat Kur’s surprise. Whatever the cause, he seemed to respond to Darzhee Kut’s reaction as though it had been spoken aloud. “Too much is at stake for me not to know all that transpires in this room, particularly since it is where you and Urzueth Ragh have had to be my proxies against the pressure of First Voice and his First Fist. You have my gratitude, particularly, Darzhee Kut.”

“It is my honor to echo your melodies in this place, Esteemed First Delegate. Regarding the Speaker Caine Riordan. I wonder if we should house him here, or in the fleet.”

“Why the fleet?”

“I fear for his safety from the Hkh’Rkh and from our human associates.”

Hu’urs Khraam settled his belly down lower into the couch. “Let us keep him here. Attend my reasons. First, he returns to us as an emissary, not for asylum, and so we must house him where we would other emissaries: here on this planet. Secondly, we may wish to speak to him, have his immediate counsel at this delicate juncture, and I wish to watch his reactions both as he speaks to us and hears what we say. He may reveal much to us, this way.

“Besides, Riordan’s arrival is most propitious, politically. We now have a means of resuming discourse with the humans without angering the Hkh’Rkh by either making or accepting a diplomatic overture, without appearing ‘weak,’ as they like to say. And be sure, the humans will also see the advantage of having a negotiator already in our midst, and whose unexpected presence necessitates that we reestablish contact with them. They cannot fail to have deduced why we elected not to resume discourse when they offered, so I suspect the humans will be glad for this serendipitous development.”

“And hopefully they will also appreciate how Riordan may save them from making any further blunders.” Darzhee Kut lowered his voice slightly. “First Delegate Khraam, his decision to come out of hiding and risking proximity to the Hkh’Rkh and Ruap’s troops is a more noble gesture than our grandmothers’ songs ever led me to hope for in a human. Riordan’s act should be widely sung among our people.”

But Hu’urs Khraam simply shifted as though he had discovered a pebble between his belly-plates. “His deed may be noble. But that may create a problem for us.”

“How?”

“Such a human, one who might harmonize and keep his word, could thereby influence our simpler rock-siblings to imagine that we must reciprocally deal fairly with him, with the humans. Worst of all, they might believe that our negotiations with the humans should be carried out in good faith.”

“What?”

“Darzhee Kut, surely you cannot believe that I expected the humans to meet the greater demands that the Hkh’Rkh imposed? You said so yourself.”

“Yes, but I—”

“Be still and hear the wise hymn of the coming decade, as envisioned by your elders. Unable to come quickly to agreement, the occupation of Earth will wear on. We shall turn over the planetside responsibilities to the Hkh’Rkh, but continue to provide orbital support. Their faces, not ours, shall thus be associated with the misery of Indonesia in particular, and this world in general. Negotiations will drag from months to years. Meanwhile our fleet will reconsolidate and carry our offensive beyond Ross 154, pushing into Junction system and continuing down the Big Green Main to Zeta Tucanae. With all of human space controlled, their capitulation becomes inevitable. The Hkh’Rkh are given Epsilon Indi as their war prize, thereby establishing them on the green world that can most obstruct human contact with the rest of the Green Main. We withdraw, still quibbling over a co-dominium of Barnard’s Star. By this point, the humans will have readily conceded to a staged withdrawal from their intrusion into our space at 70 Ophiuchi.”

Darzhee Kut almost stammered. “But in the scenario you propose, the Hkh’Rkh cannot independently reach their new colony on Epsilon Indi. Their ships are limited to seven-point-four-light-year shifts and cannot cross the—”

“My song is not finished. In ten years, the humans will have rebuilt and will chafe at the Hkh’Rkh presence in their midst. Meanwhile, the Hkh’Rkh will have armed themselves rapidly with our aid, probably establishing shift-carrier construction facilities on Epsilon Indi. They will already be dreaming of seizing another green world along the main.”

“But the humans will crush them.”

“Perhaps. Perhaps not. Our aid in this can turn the tide one way or the other, particularly given our presence, accepted or not, at Barnard’s Star.”

“First Delegate, with respect, you are creating a future in which both these races will remain at war for decades to come. They will come to hate each other unremittingly. There will be genocide.”

“Just so, Darzhee Kut, just so.”

“But this is—”

“This is their nature, Darzhee Kut. They cannot change it. Nor can we. But we can control it. We can control it so that they focus their savagery on each other and remain too embroiled in their reciprocal genocide to cast covetous eyes upon our worlds. They will cripple their economies with a series of wars. Before they are through, the Wholenest will have had time to refocus its energies and consensus to adapt to a perpetual war-footing. For with such savage neighbors as these, we have no other choice.”

“So the disputes at Convocation, our negotiations with the humans, even our alliance with the Hkh’Rkh: these are all a ruse?”

“Not entirely. We do need the Hkh’Rkh here to conduct the infantry operations. And we will indeed remain committed to supporting their demands for territorial concessions from the humans. But otherwise, my scruples are reserved for ensuring the welfare of my race, Darzhee Kut. Indeed, you might wish to be still for some moments, or hours, and ensure that your own scruples harmonize with that primary criterion.”

Darzhee Kut suppressed a wave of dizziness. “What of honesty and honor, which the human Riordan shows by coming here?”

“What of it? If all humans were capable of such deeds, such sacrifice, perhaps we would act differently. But they are not. They are as they ever were, and we must see to the safety of our Wholenest. That objective comes first and, if need be, at the expense of all other scruples and values. I’m sure you agree with that, do you not, Speaker Kut?”

I do not.
But he said, “This song is new to me, and I have yet to learn its harmonies. Forgive me, Hu’urs Khraam.”

“No forgiveness is necessary. I had not envisioned a member of the Ee’ar caste learning of these plans so soon, but you are an exceptional Ee’ar, Darzhee Kut. In subsequent discussions with your rock-siblings and caste-peers, exercise the discretion I know you possess: do not mention this. Now, what insights have you gained into the current human strategy by studying their local records?”

“As I feared, Hu’urs Khraam, very little. We selected Indonesia because of its disaffection from the world government, which made it a pariah among the greater nations. Consequently, it was not included in the innermost strategic circles.”

“So there are no clues to why the humans did not destroy the antimatter refinery and refueling site on the asteroid they call Vesta?”

Darzhee Kut signaled a negative. “The corporate spies employed by CoDevCo and the few reliable collaborators we have in the Indonesian military hypothesize that the Confederation did not believe our attack to be so imminent. Thus, they had only partially completed the job of rigging the asteroid facility with the necessary explosives when we arrived there—”

“—But because our first flotilla seized Vesta and engaged their fleet at Jupiter two days before the rest of our fleet shifted in beyond cislunar space, the humans had enough advance warning to disable the larger facility on the moon?”