I look up from the tiny book and see Matope sitting beneath his sign, his unblinking gaze on the entrance to the Talman Kovah. His commitment to peace makes a slit throat a whim by comparison. Aydan, the ancient Jetah master who made war into a science, would have granted Matope a warmaster’s blade. Blind Koboc the poet would rate a blade, as well. But are you worthy, Yazi Ro? You who want to shake the dust of Amadeen from your feet? You who dream of painted houses, full food bowls, and children who sleep without nightmares? You who would take a ship to strange worlds and live a life of adventure, joy, and profit? Are you worthy, Yazi Ro? What do you want: peace or to live in peace?
Zenak Abi looked into my mind and saw me delivering its work to the Jetai Diea and saw me returning to Amadeen, its copy of the Koda Nusinda in hand. Somehow I feel that all of the questions I have are already asked and answered,
"I have the sharp edge at my throat, Aydan," I whisper as I walk toward the entrance to the kovah. "Where is my blade?"
TEN
As I enter the kovah, the hall is a nest of harried students, administrative and security personnel, as well as Jetah masters rushing this way and that, some shouting, some not, all with worried faces. One of the masters stops in mid-frenzy, stares at me for a moment, and asks, "Apologies, stranger. Are you called Yazi Ro?'
I manage to get out a single nod and the Jetah grabs my arm and pulls me toward a hall. "This way! This way! The Ovjetah has been waiting!"
I pull my arm free but continue to follow. "Your name?" I ask.
"Vidoz Ru," says the Jetah. "Please hurry."
We reach the end of the hall and I follow the Jetah into a car where we continue to stand as the doors close and the vehicle accelerates and shoots deep beneath the street level of the city. Jetah Ru looks at me and demands, "Where have you been? The locator has been out since before midnight."
"I stayed with friends. The clerk who was in the kiosk yesterday assured me that no one would have any trouble finding me."
"I am certain, Yazi Ro, that you were not registered by your host."
I shrugged, knowing as I did so that I had picked up the habit from the humans I had known. I do not regret it. Often a shrug is all the answer there is. "I did not know that it is a requirement, Jetah Ru, and I doubt that anyone even registers themselves, much less an overnight guest, in the canal district."
The Jetah looks at me in horror as it silently mouths the words: "Canal district!" With less silence it continues. "Thieves, killers, traitors, humans, addicts twisted on happy paste―you could have been killed!"
Before I can point out my obvious health, the car slows, stops, and the doors open revealing the gleaming white interior of a security corridor. Four armed guards watch as we stand in a blue light before the doors. Ru states its name and I follow with my name.
"There is a knife in this one’s boot, Jetah."
"And your point is?" prompts Vidoz Ru impatiently.
The light dims and the guard closest to the entrance gestures with its weapon toward the doors. As we approach the doors, they slide open allowing me to see blue-robed student technicians serving banks of computer instruments beneath ranks of towering screens projecting the mysterious scribbles, numbers, and diagrams dear to Talman masters.
As we enter it I see that the chamber is huge and hewn out of the bedrock of the planet itself. In the center of the activity is a raised dais surrounded by touch panels. Seated there is Ovjetah Jeriba Shigan, its face clouded with concern. Vidoz Ru stands before the Ovjetah and mumbles something to it. Shigan stands and looks around the Jetah at me. Its look carries both relief and regret.
"Yazi Ro, come. There is not much time." Jeriba Shigan nods its thanks to Vidoz Ru, leaves the dais, and walks rapidly toward a door, automatically followed by its two assistants and two guards. I follow and as I do so I notice everyone in the chamber looking at me. I pause long enough to return the stares. Several of them look away in embarrassment. Most do not. Somehow I feel my ghosts being stirred. I turn, see one of Shigan’s assistants motioning at me to follow the Ovjetah’s party through the door. Again I shrug and do as I am told.
The Ovjetah’s personal office is stark, unadorned, reminding me more of Zenak Abi’s cave than the setting for such a powerful being. There is a work table, a computer terminal, and a few chairs. The uncolored bedrock of Draco’s Irrveh continent forms the chamber’s walls. Jeriba Shigan seats itself and looks at me, its hands clasped together. In its eyes is either fatigue or a terrible sadness. "We have been processing Zenak Abi’s work all night. Most of today we have been performing the verifications, collating the peripheral effects and assessing the possible effect limits."
I feel my brow climbing. "Ovjetah, is it important to what you wish to accomplish with me that I understand you?"
Jeriba Shigan gestures with its hand, dismissing all. "The material you brought to us allows us to see a possible talma to peace on Amadeen."
The Ovjetah’s assistants and guards remain standing, hence I do the same. Even so, there is a question gnawing at me. "A possible course to peace was something Zenak Abi saw from its cave on Mt. Atahd."
Shigan leans back in its chair and places its hands upon the desk. "We cannot do better here despite our facilities and the wisdom of the Jetah Diea. It is because of the nature of the problem." Shigan thinks for a moment and looks up into my eyes. "Yazi Ro, there are countless paths from the present to any desired future. To find the path or paths that will actually result in the changes necessary to produce the desired result depend on many things: logical possibility, practicality, and the decisions of the goal-choosing entities involved. Understand that paths involving logical possibility can be proven as effective or not."
"A path is either possible or it is not," I respond.
"Yes." Shigan crosses its legs after the manner of a human. "Paths involving practicality―the current state of applied knowledge―can also be proven as effective or not for any given point in time." The Ovjetah raises its eyebrows toward me.
"Either something is technologically possible," I say, "or it is not."
Shigan nods and looks at one of his assistants. "Muta, Yazi Ro exhibits a better understanding of the subject than some students we have been teaching."
"Most discouraging," responds the assistant.
Shigan shifts its gaze to me and motions toward one of the chairs, indicating that I should be seated. After I lower myself into the chair, somewhat surprised to find that it is constructed to human proportions, the Ovjetah continues. "The third consideration is paths involving desires, obsessions, and choices―attempting to predict what certain beings will or will not do. Such questions trade in probabilities rather than certitude. In the aggregate, behavior can be predicted with a high degree of accuracy. The accuracy decreases as there is an increase in the importance of individuals whose decisions influence or control the decisions of masses."
"The Amadeen problem," I conclude.
The Ovjetah nods once and says, "We cannot prove that certain paths are closed, given our present understanding of the facts. We cannot, however, prove any of them effective. All we can do is take the paths exhibiting the highest probability of effectiveness and try them." The Ovjetah smiles slightly as its eyes focus elsewhere for a moment. "Give it our best shot." Shigan again fixes me with its gaze. "I ask that you go on a mission for the Jetah Diea."
"A mission? Me?"