The Course of Empire

by Eric Flint

  He pushed aside the memory. Wrem-fa was a matter of life's experience, even more than a crecheling's training. When it came to humans, it was a simple fact that Aille's wrem-fa now greatly exceeded that of any Jao except Wrot and a few others like him. It was certainly much superior to Dau's, however wise and venerable the kochanau might be in other regards.

  Aguilera ducked his head and led the other Terrans out of the office. After they had gone, Dau regarded him steadily with expectation in the lay of his ears. He intended Aille to do or say something, but he was not going to indicate what. It was to be wrem-fa all over again, apparently. Despite his respect for the kochanau, Aille found that a bit irritating.

  "I am kroudh now," Aille said brusquely, almost challengingly. "What I do no longer reflects upon Pluthrak."

  "Not officially." The enigmatic black eyes swept the office, alighting finally upon Yaut. "But you will always be Pluthrak by birth. That cannot be altered."

  "If I die, my origin will no longer be an issue." Aille turned back to the image tank and called up a cross-section of one of his space-going submersibles. The oblong black shape hung over his immense desk, rotating slowly, alien and fascinating. "Oppuk has demanded my life repeatedly, since he was removed and placed in captivity by the Bond. I have thus far refused to surrender it, of course, since he no longer possesses oudh. That will change though, if the Naukra assigns alternate leadership to this world. They may, after all, decide to return oudh to Narvo—and Narvo may then choose Oppuk as Governor again."

  Caught off-guard, Dau's eyes flashed green. "That is hardly likely. And you will not surrender your life to that oaf, no matter what!"

  Aille pitched his ears at an ironic angle. The elder had spoken in unaccustomed haste. Neither Dau, nor Pluthrak, had the authority to command him any longer, and they both knew it. That was in the nature of kroudh.

  "Before I came here, I viewed his so-called 'palace'! Where, apparently, he insists on spending his captivity while the Naukra assembles." Dau snorted in disapproval. "Disgraceful! The monstrosity is surrounded by useless vegetation that can be neither eaten, nor made into any useful product. The building itself, though it appears Jao without, is riddled inside with windows, tiny enclosures, straight lines, and corners. It is positively hideous."

  His ears flattened. "And the state of disrepair on this world! We detected entire regions where the infrastructure has been left in ruins from our initial conquest. No wonder the natives are in a constant state of revolt! Their most basic needs have been ignored. Even animals have to be properly husbanded, or they produce nothing of value. That truth is widely known. Even to Narvo. Even to Dano!"

  "And these are very far from animals," Yaut said abruptly. The fraghta's whiskers twitched and he turned away, appearing to study the approach to the refit facility through a single small, darkened window. "They are clever sentients, often shrewd. Sometimes, I even think, wise. True, they are lacking in many respects, compared to Jao, but they are highly advanced in others. More advanced than we are, in fact."

  Dau's whiskers quivered with amusement. "You too, fraghta? You are referring to their famous ollnat, I suppose. They are obsessed with it, I am told."

  "A different form of ollnat," Aille said. "Not the fanciful vagaries of a Jao mind, when it knows not what to do, but innovation of high quality, which thwarted not only Oppuk, but defeated the Ekhat."

  "A fluke," Dau said. "The Ekhat will be prepared for such crude tactics the next time. It would not work again." But his posture as he said it conveyed subtleties. He was asking a question as much as making a statement.

  "It would certainly be more difficult," Aille said. He leaned over his console and pulled up the image of the new design for a sunship; then, set the holoimage to rotating. "But my advisors are already developing something else, equally innovative. We will succeed—if the Naukra rules wisely, this time."

  "Your human advisors."

  "Human and Jao," Aille said. "My personal service consists of both." He gestured at the image above his desk. "This design, for instance, was initiated by humans, but since then is being drastically modified in light of the experience of such veterans as Chul and Hami."

  Aille found himself performing the difficult tripartite unashamed-steadfast-resolution. "You should trust in my training, in all you have given me. What I have done is best for us all, Pluthrak, Terran, and Narvo alike."

  "I hope you are right," Dau said, and his aspect shifted to an unguarded moment of weary-fondness. "We all do. But you have removed yourself from our protection, and we cannot intervene directly on your behalf."

  "I do not wish you to intervene," Aille said, on the edge of offense. "My actions should be judged by the Naukra on their own merits."

  "That is fortunate," Dau said, "for I suspect that is all you will receive—and not even that, should Narvo hold sway at the council. Though, it seems, the Bond will be playing a much greater role than usual. Very difficult to tell, how that will affect the outcome."

  The old kochanau's whiskers quivered with amusement again. " 'Subtle as a Pluthrak,' they say. Ha! They only say that, who have never encountered a Bond Preceptor."

  To Aille's surprise—astonishment, even—Dau then bestowed upon him the posture of gratified-respect. "You have met our hopes, young one. Perhaps even exceeded them. I am not certain of your wisdom, in all of these matters, and I much fear the doing of it will require your life. But never doubt Pluthrak's pride, kroudh or not. Narvo will never recover from this, and can finally be brought into proper association."

  Dau straightened. "And now, I need some dormancy. Alas, I am old and no longer as resilient as I once was."

  Nath, respectfully, immediately moved toward the door. "I will lead you to a suitable chamber, kochanau. It has a very good pool, if a small one."

  * * *

  After the kochanau was gone, Aille stared at Yaut. The fraghta's uncertainty was all gone now, clearly enough. His posture was even tripartite, very rare for Yaut. Gratification combined with relaxed-certainty.

  Aille looked away, bringing his eyes back to the rotating image of the new sunship-in-design.

  Yaut did not understand, he realized. Not surprising, of course. Until that moment, Aille had never really understood either.

  It is all so stupid. In the end, is this all of Pluthrak's vaunted "subtlety"? Another maneuver against Narvo? With half a galactic arm infested with Ekhat?

  It is so—so—

  Another of Wrot's little adopted sayings came to him:

  Like children, in a sandbox.

  Chapter 40

  Though it had once been his refuge, Oppuk now found the palace in Oklahoma City oppressive. Since recovering from the minor injuries suffered when his subordinates had seized him at the Bond's orders, he had spent most of time there. Swimming in the pools of what his human servitors had called "The Great Hall."

  Back when he'd had human servitors. He had none any longer, and would not have tolerated any even if the Bond gave permission.

  Which, they certainly wouldn't. The only servitors they now allowed him were a handful of Bond members, who obeyed Oppuk's orders but showed him little else in the way of respect. Very junior members, all of them, to make the insult worse.

  One of them, Bori, was fortunately somewhat skilled. She was now adjusting the salinity of his favorite pool in response to his complaints, adding off-world salts, imported especially from Pratus, testing, then adding more. Already, the scent had improved to the point of being soothing again.

  It was infuriating just being back on this world. At the very least, he needed his comforts fully restored. Even though Bori had not finished, Oppuk slipped back into the pool and settled on the rock-covered bottom, letting the cool simulated waves rock him as he tried to think.

  It was difficult, because his anger continued to roil, as it had for what now seemed a near-eternity. Finally, giving up the effort, he surfaced and gazed about the vast room. Light blazed down from the holes in the ceilin
g, dividing the floor into a series of golden squares. Bori crouched silently by the far wall, polishing Oppuk's harness, the very essence of neutral readiness. Tactful enough, to be sure, but hardly the exhibition of respect Oppuk deserved.

  His fists clenched, as though he wished to strike someone, anyone, in fact. He glanced around the cavernous room, but there no human servitors or Jao menials conveniently to hand. There were none left, in the palace, besides Oppuk himself and the Bond servitors. Not even in his current rage was Oppuk unsane enough to visit violence upon a Bond member. They were "servitors" in name only.

  The female rose and departed, unseemly haste implicit in all her lines. Another subtle insult.

  Oppuk floated on his back, watching reflected light waver across the ceiling. He had constructed this residence to impress the locals, incorporating elements of human design in order to make it grand in their eyes. Perhaps that had been a mistake, giving them an exaggerated concept of their own importance. He decided to have the building razed in the near future, once the flow of the moment had completed itself, and then have a new Jao quantum crystal palace poured.

  Elsewhere, on one of the coasts. Perhaps he would have Oklahoma City destroyed by a bolide, to remove the vile memories.

  As soon as oudh was returned to him, he would start.

  * * *

  Oppuk was not relieved when a Narvo elder presented himself at the palace, the next day, ending at last the dreary solitude of his palace-become-prison. How predictable. After endless orbital cycles of disregard and silence, this sordid mess had finally commanded their unwilling notice.

  The doorfield faded, revealing an older male. Oppuk had known this one but slightly in his youth and now did not even recall his name, though he did seem to remember they had never regarded one another with favor.

  "Long have you have shamed us," the male said. "Will it never stop?" Even at his age, he had that muscular vigor Narvo always prized, classic ears, a plush brown nap. As befit his station, his harness was very fine, the trousers the green of the finest cloth, the cut supremely flattering.

  The elder had not offered his name, which meant this was not to be discourse between equals.

  "I have shamed no one," Oppuk said angrily, his ears pinned back. "I have made myself of use, taming this vile world, as I was bid."

  He lurched out of the pool, feeling desiccated the moment he left the water. "It is not my fault these creatures are so intractable. I have never shirked this noisome duty to which you bound me all those cycles ago."

  The elder's eyes flashed a fierce, unforgiving green. "Is that what Shia krinnu ava Narvo would say?"

  His old fraghta. Oppuk fought not to flinch. "Shia chose to leave, I did not send her away."

  "You were kept here, safely out of the way—we thought!—precisely because she did leave." The male's whiskers twitched with distaste. "After such reckless behavior on your part, ignoring your own fraghta to the point of driving her off, we would have been fools to trust you with a more civilized assignment!"

  Oppuk tried to protest, but could not. The old harridan had been irritating beyond belief and he had most certainly desired her departure.

  "I am rightful governor here," Oppuk said, trying to shift the discussion to ground he felt he could properly defend. "Will Narvo back my authority, or will you permit this barely emerged Pluthrak upstart to go on discrediting me?"

  "We will do what we can," the male said, "but your neglect of duty is obvious for all to see. If you do not take adequate care of the natives put in your charge, then it is only right they should be given over to the authority of someone else."

  He gazed around the empty room. "What were you thinking, when you constructed this muddle for your principal residence? How could a true Jao ever be comfortable in such surroundings?"

  He did not wait for an answer. "Come," the elder said. "We have received permission from the Bond to remove you from their custody. You are to come to our command ship. Make haste. All the kochan representatives have now arrived. The Naukra will be assembling very soon."

  Though this was exactly what he had been waiting for, Oppuk was alarmed by his kinsman's stance. Whatever awaited him on the Narvo ship up in orbit, he dreaded to learn its name.

  * * *

  The name, he discovered, was Nikau krinnu ava Narvo, and his foreboding was not mistaken. One of his pool-parents, she had been, and it was a particularly unpleasant surprise to see her. As aged as she was, Oppuk had been certain she was long since deceased.

  Her first words were as unpleasant as he remembered her.

  "You fool!" She regarded him with angry angles and a jumble of displeased lines.

  "Have I not already been abused enough?" Oppuk's posture was one of crude and undisguised outraged-anger. "First, you maroon me on that dreadful, primitive world, and then, when I defend it against Pluthrak and Ekhat both, you join Pluthrak in accusing me of incompetence!"

  Her eyes went a preternatural green, so bright, they might have been lit from inside. He had seen them so during her infamous furies, only twice in his long ago youth. "Do not assume that posture with me, crecheling!"

  Startled, he stepped back. Even now, the old female possessed the power to intimidate him.

  "What more can you do to me?" he said, ears lowered. "Do you wish me to offer the Pluthrak my life?"

  With a visible effort, she restrained her fury. "You will stand before the Naukra and tell of your most earnest efforts to subdue this recalcitrant world," Nikau said. Darkly: "I do not care in the least whether they believe you, providing you shame Narvo no further." Her posture was one of threatened-imminent regret.

  He gazed at the new harness and fresh pale-green trousers laid out on a bench for him to don. "The natives are demented, that is all which can be said of them. I have done the best anyone could. This young Pluthrak is much smitten with these creatures. They flatter him with lies, and, because he is foolish, he listens. Leave him in place an orbital cycle or two and they will fight him as hard as they ever fought me. Almost, I would like to see it."

  "Then that is what you must say." Nikau picked up the trousers and threw them at his feet. "I will speak the truth, arrogant crecheling. So long as our honor is not further sullied, I will be perfectly willing—delighted—to see another kochan given oudh over this planet. These wretched Terrans have drained Narvo's resources enough. Let some other kochan have the misery of dealing with them."

  He began to remove his clothing. "Even Pluthrak?" he demanded, with as much visible outrage as he dared.

  Her posture shifted to sour-regret. "No, not them, much as it would be pleasurable to see them founder in this swamp. But that would be too great an insult. As it is, Narvo's status has slipped greatly with respect to theirs, thanks to your misconduct."

  A cold shiver ran through his body, and, for a moment, he wished he had perished in the Ekhat attack. He could see now that he would be blamed for this crisis by everyone, even his own, despite the true cause being Aille's treachery.

  Fury came, to drive away the moment's despair, though he kept it from his posture. His only crime was having failed to make the natives fear him enough, while Aille krinnu ava Pluthrak wished Terrans to believe that he was their fraghta. In that, Oppuk knew, the youth was doomed to failure. Terrans respected no one and nothing, not even each other.

  He finished donning the trousers, his self-confidence returning with the anger, then shrugged into the stiff new harness. He had nothing for which to make excuses. He had done only what he had been sent here to do, and had done it well, until the Pluthrak had arrived. He would make the Naukra see that. Narvo should still be oudh here. They would listen. Would even, he found himself certain, chasten the Bond for their hasty actions.

  "Fool," he heard Nikau repeat. But the word did not really register. The female was old, her fury nothing more than a decrepit spasm. He was as sure of that as he was of anything.

  * * *

  Aille went out to the landing field early in
the next solar cycle, when the Bond representatives descended to Pascagoula. Once their diplomatic ships committed themselves to landing, a bevy of smaller ships also converged on the same spot with that unerring timing that baffled humans so.

  Aguilera, Tully, and Kralik stood before Aille, now automatically giving him status without being directed. The sun beat down, bright and brash. A breeze gusted inland from the sea, bearing the steamy fragrance of brine-soaked seaweed.

  "How do they know?" Kralik said, without looking back over his shoulder at Aille. "I have worked with Jao now for years and still I have no idea how your kind manages to know when it's time to do anything without clocks." He gestured at the expanse of tarmac beside the ocean, now bristling with ships. "It's amazing. They're like a flock of birds or a school of fish, all turning at the same instant without hesitation. There must be hundreds of Jao here and every one of them arrived within a half hour of each other."

  Aille experienced a brief dissonance at the thought of always having to depend upon mechanical devices, which must be calibrated and maintained, in order to know when to act. His fingers traced the carvings on his bau. "They came when flow completed itself."

  "But how do they know?"

  "They felt it," Aille said, "as you feel hunger or weariness or joy." He could see by their expressions his explanation was inadequate, but he knew no other way to explain.

  A contingent of Jao separated from the crowd already congregated on the landing field and drifted toward Aille. The elder Dau krinnu ava Pluthrak waited over to one side, silent, his posture unreadable. Aille willed calm into his own limbs, the lay of his ears, the droop of his whiskers. He had been unorthodox, yes, but had done nothing wrong. Vithrik had bade him save this world from the Ekhat, using the resources at hand, and that he had done. Just as the same vithrik, once the nature of Oppuk's misrule had become clear, bade him remove Oppuk from control over the planet. No matter what it cost now, he did not see how he could possibly have acted otherwise.