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Clarion

Page 18

by William Greenleaf


  "If Lord Tern was a horror disk," Karyn said,

  "what was Elli?"

  210 William Greenleaf

  "I think she was a psychiatrist." Frakes issued an involuntary bark of laughter.

  "A ... shrink?"

  "It took me a long time to figure out why Dorland and I were having such a hard time

  communicating with her," Paul went on. "Then I realized we weren't talking about the same thing. We were trying to get Elli to help us defeat Lord Tern and High Elder Brill. But Elli was designed to help members of a kra'ith overcome their problems and fit in better with their kra'ith brothers and sisters. Her job was to make kra 'ith members feel better about themselves. That's all she could understand, so she naturally assumed we'd called on her because we needed emotional help. She thought Dorland was a kra'ith leader seeking advice."

  "No wonder you were confused," Karyn said.

  "We were," Paul said. "Until we convinced her the entire planet of Clarion was our kra'ith. Then she understood, and she knew Lord Tern wasn't a good leader. So she offered the only advice she could. A new leader. Dorland."

  Another silence intervened.

  "If the disks are recordings," Karyn said at last,

  "That means . . ." She turned to look at the chauka.

  "It means," Paul said, "that the chauka and the disks are thousands of years old." He took the silver disk out of his pocket and looked down at it.

  "We'll never get to meet the Tal Tahir. But I have a feeling they've left us something we'll find to be useful—"

  A hoarse shout interrupted him, and Jacque

  came clattering down the stairs. His words were drowned out by a sudden roar overhead. Paul looked up and saw a dozen silver warships hovering over the temple. The fuselage of each was emblazoned with a'bright blue crosshatch. The Fringe Alliance had arrived in force.

  Epilogue

  DANITA WAS SILENT FOR A LONG MOMENT AFTER

  her grandfather had finished the story. Finally she looked up at him, her dark eyes reflecting the flame from the fire.

  "That was when the Treaty of Clarion was signed?"

  The old man nodded. "The treaty was negotiated and signed during the next three days. Dorland called in the UNSA triumvirate members, as well as Hans Maiar and his top lieutenants. It wasn't hard to convince them to come. They all wanted to get their hands on Clarion."

  "But Dorland Avery didn't know he would be able to persuade them to sign the treaty. Wasn't that risky, bringing them all together like that?" The old man smiled. "Dorland and the others were accustomed to taking risks." His hand lifted unconsciously to his cheek and touched the deep scar that slanted across his face. "Dorland knew that all he had to do was show them the kra'ith of humankind."

  "It was that simple?"

  212 William Greenleaf

  "Well. . . no," the old man admitted. "They hadn't come to hear about the kra'ith. But they had come to find the secrets of the Tal Tahir. Dorland showed them the kra'ith and enabled them to realize for themselves the importance of a lasting peace. The rest of it grew from that." In truth, there had been many who hadn't believed the Treaty of Clarion would last a week, and it had certainly gone through some shaky trials. But the treaty had in fact lasted eighty years, and was stronger today than ever. During that time the Fringe Alliance and UNSA had grown together in mutual strength.

  "What happened to High Elder Brill and the rest of the elders?" Danita asked.

  "Alban Brill was old. Losing his hold over Clarion was too much for him. He died a few months after the treaty was signed. Elder Jacowicz died shortly after, but by his own hand. The rest of them moved back to Fairhope. Some became good

  friends of mine over time."

  "When was the university built?"

  "After the treaty was signed. Dorland Avery's first students graduated a year later."

  "You were in that class, weren't you?"

  "Yes." The old man had graduated in Clarion University's first class along with all the other original Sons of God. Most of them were dead by now, but during their lifetimes they had formed a strong kra'ith and had succeeded in negotiating peaceful ends to thousands of conflicts along the stream. Others, like the old man, had instructed countless more at the university to take their places.

  Dorland Avery and Paul Jurick both had lived long enough to see their plans succeed. All along the vastness-of the stream, humankind had not experienced the horrors of war in over sixty

  CLARION 213

  standard years. That was Elli's legacy—lasting peace for the first time in humankind's history. Danita sighed a young girl's long, deep sigh. "I wish I could have known them like you did.

  Dorland Avery, Paul Jurick, Jacque Hakim, Karyn DiMemmo. They were special people."

  "Yes," he said. "They were." He and Paul Jurick had become the best of friends during their long careers at the university. *

  "What happened to the Elli disk and the chauka?"

  "They were turned over to UNSA archaeologists," the old man answered. "We learned more from the Tal Tahir than how to live in peace. As far as I know, the chauka is still working, although I haven't heard anything of it in years." He paused, thinking. "We didn't need it here. As Elli had said, it was time for a new order on the planet, and Dorland was able to find it in his own way."

  "With Elli's help," Danita pointed out.

  "Yes," he admitted with a smile. "But in the end, the human kra'ith worked out the Treaty of Clarion. Humans have to solve human problems. Gods can't do that for us. Elli was smart enough to know that was the way it would have to be."

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  William Greenleaf

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